


The Marauders: Time of Our Life || Jily (JamesxLily) & Wolfstar (RemusxSirius)

by NenehLipoli



Series: The Marauders [1]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, The Marauders - Fandom
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:08:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25129795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NenehLipoli/pseuds/NenehLipoli
Summary: The Marauders (James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter) start their fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.The four share a secret, unknown to other students. One of them is a werewolf and the others are unregistered animagi.Transformed into a dog, stag, and rat, they accompany Remus during the full moons at Hogwarts.Will someone try to find out their secret?Please note that:*Any potential similarities to other stories are unintentional (I only publish my own writing).*Things may differ from the original HP/Marauders' stories and that I don't have all the facts.*English is not my first language, so please forgive the occasional errors.*The story will focus on several characters’ perspectives.*The pairings will occur at some point in the story, but not necessarily right away.*This story is currently published on: Wattpad, Archive of Our Own (AO3), Fanfiction.net, and harrypotterfanfiction.com. If this story shows up on any other site, feel free to report it.☆ Disclaimers! ☆*The characters do not belong to me. I've borrowed them for this fan fiction from the amazing author JK Rowling. ♡
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans, James/Lily, Jily - Relationship, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Sirius/Remus, wolfstar - Relationship
Series: The Marauders [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1820329
Kudos: 16





	1. King's Cross

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first published story on AO3. 
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy it! :) 
> 
> //Neneh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Marauders (James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter) meet up at King's Cross station. 
> 
> Tension arises when Lily and Snape are forced to share a compartment with the Marauders on the Hogwarts express. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome! 
> 
> I hope you will like the story. Feel free to subscribe to get updates. :) 
> 
> Best wishes,  
> Neneh

Remus entered King's Cross station at 10 o'clock. He dragged his luggage along with him, walking towards a particular burger place where he and his friends would meet up every year, before entering platform 9¾.

Remus always thought that there was a certain charm to having a simple burger with fries together as normal teenagers, considering that they spent most of the year in a place full of magic.

Once he entered the burger place he looked around, trying to spot his friends. There were a couple of people around - a family, a couple, and a few people who seemed to be in a hurry to grab something before leaving for the train. His friends, on the other hand, were nowhere to be seen.

Remus was a little disappointed, but not at all surprised. His friends weren't known for their punctuality after all. He knew his friends very well - they had been friends since their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, though a part of him couldn't help but worry.

"Moony!"

Remus snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the familiar nickname and turned around. He spotted his best friends, James and Sirius, and he felt at ease once he saw their big grins.

James was wearing black jeans, a simple white t-shirt, and a blue denim jacket with a white fur collar. His dark hair was messy, as always, and he had a big grin plastered on his face.

Sirius wore dark grey jeans, a grey shirt, and a black motorcycle jacket, which Remus had never seen before. His thick, luscious raven hair had grown a little longer since the last time they'd met.

Remus fiddled with the sleeves of his beige jacket, which was a little too big for him, as he watched his friends approach.

James ruffled Remus's light brown hair before embracing him with a fond look on his face. "It's good to see you, Moony!" Remus smiled at this. "I could say the same to you, Prongs," he stated as the two parted from the hug.

Sirius smiled and scooped Remus up in his arms. "Hey," he said and stepped back. Remus smiled at him.

"New jacket?" he asked curiously as he took another look at Sirius. Sirius shrugged. "Got it last week," he replied with a smirk.

"I suppose it's only fitting now that you've got a motorcycle," Remus stated.

"If you come and live with us next summer, I could take you for a ride sometime," Sirius suggested.

"I might just take you up on that offer," Remus responded with a slight smile.

"H-hey guys! Wait up!" someone squeaked from behind them. They all turned to see their friend, Peter - the last member of their quartet. He clumsily dragged his luggage behind him with hurried steps to catch up with the others.

He was wearing baggy, beige pants, and a green, knitted sweater. He was shorter than his friends and since they parted in the summer, his bangs had grown a little, making his mousy brown hair cover his eyes slightly.

Remus waved and smiled politely at Peter while Sirius and James exchanged a glance before bursting into laughter because of his clumsiness. Peter looked up and smiled sheepishly before joining in on the laughter.

Once they had gotten their food they sat down to eat. Sirius threw one of his French fries into the air and tried to catch it with his mouth. After failing twice he took another fry and threw it to James, who caught it with his mouth flawlessly.

"Nice one, Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed at him, flashing yet another big grin at his best friend. James shrugged. "Must be my reflexes from all the quidditch." he guessed, grinning back at Sirius.

"Come to think about it..." James continued. "Imagine your mother seeing you at a place like this."

Sirius snorted at his comment. "How _dare_ you eat at a muggle place? You are a _disgrace_!" he imitated his mother.

"I can see her worry lines increasing by the minute." James continued and the two started laughing uncontrollably.

Peter laughed along as well, but he seemingly had trouble keeping up with their inside jokes.

Remus simply smiled. He enjoyed being back together with his friends. Moments like this made him understand why he had missed them so much over the summer.

While Sirius had been spending the summer at James's place, Remus had not been able to do so this year. Peter's parents had also decided to take a trip during the summer, which meant that James and Sirius had had more time together than with the others.

___

The Marauders, as the quartet called themselves, didn't notice a lanky, young male with greasy black hair and a large nose, enter the burger place. Since they hadn't seen him yet, Severus Snape tried to hide behind a pillar. He was watching the four friends from afar, but he was just close enough to be in earshot.

"Moony! I can't believe we haven't told you yet!" Severus heard Sirius speak up excitedly. "The operation you-know-what is well on the way. We actually _did_ it yesterday!" James filled Sirius in, equally excited.

"Oh my goodness! That's incredible, I can't believe it!" Remus cheered happily. "I can't believe you guys actually did this for me, really, I'm-" he continued and turned to Peter, who was sitting beside James across from him and Sirius. "How about you, Wormtail?" he asked curiously.

"Well, I... erm, not-not yet, but I'm almost there," Peter mumbled.

 _'What are they talking about?'_ Severus thought while eyeing them suspiciously. He decided to keep listening, but before he could hear any more of the conversation he was startled by someone calling him out.

"Snivellus? I thought that was your huge nose sticking out from behind that pillar." Sirius spoke, teasingly, his voice smooth as velvet.

James snorted. "It _would_ be hard to miss it." He agreed. "Are you _following_ us or something?" he added with narrowed eyes through his glasses.

"N-no... No, I-" Severus began nervously, but he was quickly cut off by Sirius. "You know, it's not very polite to eavesdrop..." he mocked, standing up from his seat. James stood up as well.

"I didn't... I'm waiting for a friend. I-" Severus continued in an attempt to defend himself. James looked at him in disbelief. "Save it, Snivellus-" James spoke, but he cut his own sentence when he spotted something.

"Hello Sev!" a female voice spoke from behind Snape.

Severus turned around faster than the speed of light to meet a certain pair of almond-shaped, green eyes. Lily's eyes. 

Lily was a beautiful young woman with thick, auburn hair that reached just below her shoulders. She had been Severus's friend since childhood, and despite this, she didn't seem fully aware that Severus had deep feelings for her.  
  
Sadly, Lily had ended up in a different Hogwarts House than Severus. While Snape was a Slytherin student, Lily was in Gryffindor. Unfortunately for Severus, this also meant that Lily was in the same House as James Potter and his friends.   
  
"Lily..." Snape spoke, his eyes darting nervously towards the Marauders' table. James and his friends were all still glaring at him.  
  
Lily hadn't noticed the marauders yet, so she kept talking. "Let's get that milkshake now, shall we? You said you've never tried one before!" She smiled at Severus, who nodded slowly. He looked uncomfortable. Lily traced his eyes back to the Marauders' table and sighed before stomping over there.  
  
"What did you do this time, Potter?" she asked irritatedly, locking eyes with James, who pursed his lips. "Well, hello to you too, Evans," he said, smirking at her.   
  
James had also developed an interest in Lily, something that hadn't gone unnoticed by Snape. If Severus's problem was that he was not open enough with his feelings, James was the exact opposite. The Latter would constantly try to ask Lily out and show off in front of her.  
  
"You know what I mean!" Lily exclaimed, rolling her eyes. "What did you guys do to Severus?" she asked and made a gesture with her hand towards Severus, who hadn't moved.  
  


"I believe the correct term would be; what did Snivellus do this time?" James corrected her and nodded lazily towards Snape.

"Don't call him that!" Lily exclaimed.

"I can defend myself." Severus snapped, seemingly annoyed and embarrassed with how Lily had to come to his rescue. Lily sighed. "Fine."

The two of them walked away to the line and ordered their milkshakes before they sat down at a window table on the other side of the restaurant.

"I just don't get why they _always_ have to do that..." Lily said while sipping on her milkshake.

Severus looked down at the floor and sighed, still uncomfortable with the subject. "And I don't get why we had to go to this muggle place in the first place..." he muttered.

"Do you think he heard us?" Remus asked nervously.

"I doubt it," Sirius replied with a shrug.

"Even if he did, he doesn't know what it means." James scoffed.

They decided to drop the subject and walked out of the burger place.

___

The marauders arrived at platform 9¾. They entered the Hogwarts express, looking for their usual compartment. Sirius and James sat down on one side and Remus and Peter sat down on the other. James bought them some sweets and beverages from the trolley when the sweet lady came by.

After a while, James pulled out his golden snitch and started to throw it and catch it. Sirius looked out the window, while Remus was listening to Peter explaining how he had managed to transform himself so that he had rat ears and a tail.

"That's not bad at all. I'm sure you will be able to transform fully in no time." Remus encouraged, before pulling out a book from his bag.

After a few minutes, someone entered their compartment. James looked up to see Lily. "Hello... again." She spoke. She seemed a little hesitant.

"Evans, always a pleasure," James replied and flashed her a smile.

"All the compartments are full and I figured, maybe... we could sit with you?" Lily continued and ignored the flirting.

" _We_?" James questioned, clicking his tongue with an annoyed expression.

"Well, yeah... Severus and I." Lily said and smiled slightly as if she thought it would convince them.

James pondered for a few seconds.

"You _could_... If you agree to sit next to me." James finally spoke with a smirk.

"Fine." Lily sighed and nodded for Severus to follow her into the compartment.

The compartment wasn't too big, so they had to sit rather close to each other.

"Peter gets to sit with Snivellus." Sirius teased as Snape hesitantly sat down next to Peter.

Peter pouted and tried to squeeze himself closer to Remus.

"Why me...?" he groaned. Snape didn't hear him. He was too busy glaring at James, who pulled Lily a little closer by her waist. Lily didn't object but she removed his hand and moved away slightly to have a little more space to herself.

Remus tried to lean towards the window to read his book, even though he was being squished by Peter, who wanted to distance himself from Snape.

When he looked up while turning a page, he caught a glance of Sirius in the reflection of the window. He could've sworn that Sirius was looking his way, but when he looked again Sirius was staring blankly out the window.

Peter kept pouting and shooting daggers with his eyes towards Snape. Severus kept glaring at James and Lily who were squished against each other next to Sirius.

James reached for his bag and pulled up some of the sweets he bought earlier. He opened one of the chocolate frogs and gave the other one to Lily. They compared their cards and James took out another sweet from the bag. He took a bit from a liquorice wand and offered for Lily to take a bite. At first, Lily refused, but she eventually took a bite.

Seeing James and Lily sitting so close and James feeding her was too much for Severus. He stood up angrily and pointed at Lily.

"You stay here since you seem to enjoy yourself so much." He said, clenching his jaw and letting out a shaky breath.

He stormed out of the compartment, leaving Lily slightly shocked, and James, Sirius, and Peter bursting with laughter at his tantrum. Remus kept his eyes on a page of his book, trying to avoid the situation altogether.

An awkward silence followed.

Finally, Sirius spoke.

"So... Who wants to play exploding snap?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Edited 2020-11-09: Corrected mistakes; Improved grammar, structure, and flow. Some sentences have been altered to improve the quality of the text.
> 
> *Edited 2020-12-21: Minor parts rewritten and extended. I've added a little more background and additional descriptions of characters' appearances.


	2. Ride to Hogwarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily tries to sort things out with Severus. 
> 
> The students arrive at Hogwarts. 
> 
> James and Sirius are approached by admirers, which causes reactions. 

Lily scowled at the marauders' reactions. She stood up to leave the compartment, but not before turning around to give James a piece of her mind.

"Every time you act like a decent human being, you prove yourself even worse!" she snapped at him.

James just sat there and stared at her. "Oh, come _on_ , Evans!" he groaned, but Lily just gave him a disappointed look before she scurried out of the compartment to find Snape.

Sirius smirked and shook his head, clearly amused. James blinked and shrugged. "What?"

"As your best friend, I feel it is my sworn duty to tell you; you fucked up," Sirius said and put his hand on his shoulder.

James looked annoyed and a little embarrassed. Lily wasn't like most students, who admired him as the popular, good-looking quidditch star he was known as. She had a way of bruising his ego.

"Pfft, she'll be back..." he muttered under his breath.

"Sure, whatever you say." Sirius shrugged, leaning back in his seat. He put his arms behind his head and closed his eyes, still smirking.

Remus, who had put his book down by now, looked at him. His eyes trailed to Sirius's toned arms. He quickly caught himself and moved his eyes to James, who was still sulking.

Remus cleared his throat. "You know, Prongs, Lily isn't just the average girl. She won't be impressed with your looks or your quidditch skills."

James looked at him, slightly confused. "What do you mean?" he asked, sitting up properly in his seat.

"Well... I mean, try having an intellectual conversation, show your mature side... And, if I may say so, perhaps... tone down the whole 'Snivellus'-thing?" Remus suggested.

James raised an eyebrow. "Intellectual conversation, yes. Act maturely, sure thing. 'Tone down the _Snivellus-thing_ '? No freaking _way_!" he scoffed. "Don't pretend that Snivellus is innocent here. We give him what he deserves - nothing more, nothing less," he added with a disgusted expression.

"Exactly!" Peter chimed in eagerly, looking to James for approval.

"Besides, his possessiveness over his so-called 'friend' Lily Evans is pretty damn sick," Sirius added and faked a gag. James chuckled and gave him a high five, while Peter burst into laughter.

"Ugh, I-" Remus began. "Just... Never mind," he mumbled, looking out the window. The sky was turning darker, which reminded Remus that they should change into their robes.

"Guess we should get changed," he said, the others humming in agreement.

__

After Lily left the compartment, she called out for Severus. She spotted him and tried to walk up to him, but Severus kept on walking. Lily started speed walking to catch up. "Wait!" she called, only to be ignored by Snape.

"Severus Snape! Don't you walk away from me!" she scolded, gripping his arm to make him stop. Severus finally gave up and stopped, still not looking at her.

"Sev, what's wrong? Why did you leave?" Lily asked. She didn't sound irritated or angry, just concerned.

Snape sighed as he finally looked up. "Doesn't it defeat the purpose of telling Potter off if you are cozied up, flirting with him, less than an hour later?" he said.

Lily's eyes widened at his statement. _"Wait... what? 'Flirting'?"_ she thought.

"I was not _flirting_ with him!" she objected, raising a hand.

"Really?" Severus questioned, a little hope growing inside him.

"Really," Lily assured him. "Now, let's change into robes," she said with a smile, dragging him along.

Severus returned the smile.

_Perhaps he really did have the wrong idea?_

___

It was early in the evening when the marauders stepped off the Hogwarts Express at the railway station. It had started to rain during the last hour on the train, so the pavement was wet and smelled of rain.

Many carriages, dragged by what they assumed to be 'invisible horses' waited for the students at a muddy road.

James and his friends claimed one of the carriages as their own.

Their ride to the castle consisted of the marauders reliving old memories as they talked about last year's ride to Hogwarts.

James, Sirius, and Remus laughed warmly as they recalled Peter getting mud all over his robe last year. He had stumbled when he tried to get up on the carriage.

Peter blushed madly at the memory but laughed along nonetheless.

__

Severus had lost Lily in the crowd of students when they got off the train. He tried to spot her in the crowd at the station.

After looking for a while, Severus realized that most of the students had already gone to the carriages.

He decided to go to the mud road where the carriages awaited, in the hope of meeting Lily again.

_"She probably went over there to wait for me when she couldn't find me."_ he thought.

Once Severus reached the starting point of the carriages, he once again looked for Lily.

When he finally spotted her, he was disappointed to see that Lily was already getting into one of the carriages.

Lily seated herself beside another Gryffindor girl that Severus knew as Hallie Hayes. There were a couple of other students in the carriage as well, so now it was full.

_"Oh."_ Severus thought, disappointed, and looked down at his now mud-covered shoes.

__

Remus was the last one to get out of the carriage when they arrived at Hogwarts.

He looked down at his watch anxiously. "Let's go inside. If we go in early, we can get good seats before the ceremony," he suggested.

"Let's wait just a little longer. I'm sure Evans will be here any minute." James said, looking at the carriages that arrived after theirs.

Sirius shrugged. "I guess it's better than sitting at the table, being bored to death," he said, and Peter hummed in agreement.

Their conversation was interrupted by two female students, slightly younger than themselves.

"James! Sirius! Hi." one of the girls said cheerfully, while completely ignoring the existence of Remus and Peter.

James and Sirius turned to the two girls and greeted them, although not as enthusiastically.

Remus and Peter greeted the girls as well, despite their rudeness.

"So, we were thinking..." the first girl said, smiling sweetly.

"We finally get to go to Hogsmeade this year!" the other girl filled her in.

"Do you... perhaps... want to join us at The Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer sometime?" the first girl asked them, blushing.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, a little amused by her shyness. James looked a little surprised, even though he was quite popular.

"Who knows?" Sirius said, teasingly, with a smirk.

Remus huffed and started dragging Peter along with him towards the entrance. "We'll be inside, waiting for you two," he said.

Sirius turned around and watched as half of the quartet walked off. _"Jeez, it's not like we will be late..."_ he thought, raising an eyebrow.

James spotted Lily, who was walking towards them. Curious about what her reaction would be, he decided to speak up.

"Yeah, I mean, maybe? I'm sure we can work something out," he said and smirked, watching Lily at the corner of his eyes.

__

Lily walked past them, noticing James and Sirius. They were talking to two girls - one from Ravenclaw and the other from Hufflepuff.

As she passed them, she heard James respond to something.

_"Yeah, I mean, maybe? I'm sure we can work something out."_

Lily felt a bit irritated. She wasn't sure whether it was because of James's cocky grin or because of the way he said it quite loudly.

To Lily, it seemed as if James wanted to make sure everyone knew just how popular he and Sirius were with the girls at school.

She still wasn't sure why she felt so annoyed by it, but she wasn't about to stick around to find out.

As she passed by the four students, she caught James's eyes for a second.

She rolled her eyes and kept walking, ignoring him as he called out for her.

"Hey, Evans!"

__

Shortly after, James and Sirius decided to meet up with Remus and Peter.

They bid the two girls goodbye and walked inside to find their fellow marauders, who were waiting for them outside of the Great Hall.

"I thought you were going inside to get good seats," Sirius said, cocking his head to the side.

His eyes were fixed on Remus while he awaited his response.

Remus shrugged. "We decided to wait for you," he said.

"Let's go inside now," Peter said and smiled. "Right James?" he added, looking to James for approval once again.

James nodded, and they entered the Great Hall together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Edited 2020-11-09: Corrected mistakes; Improved grammar, structure, and flow. Some sentences have been altered to improve the quality of the text.


	3. The Great Hall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The students join the Great Hall for the sorting ceremony and the feast. 
> 
> Sirius sees his younger brother (Regulus) for the first time since the beginning of summer. 
> 
> Remus becomes prefect. 
> 
> Sirius helps Remus deal with nightmares. 

As the marauders went to sit down at the Gryffindor table, Sirius's eyes scanned through the crowd of students.

There, at the Slytherin table, Sirius spotted his younger brother. Said brother, Regulus Black, was about to take a seat along with his fellow Slytherin friends.

Before he sat down, he turned his head slightly and looked towards the Gryffindor table.

For a split second, their eyes met.

Sirius noticed a bit of sadness and fright in Regulus's eyes. But before he could analyze his brother's face any further, Regulus averted his gaze.

Sirius hadn't seen his little brother since the beginning of summer, the very same summer he had gotten into a bad fight with his family and left to live with James for the rest of the summer.

His family had always resented the fact that Sirius openly defied the Black family's values and pure-blood pride. His mother had looked at him with shame when he was sorted into Gryffindor. And when Regulus was sorted into Slytherin two years later, it had gotten even worse.

Sirius was constantly reminded of what a perfect son Regulus was; and what a disappointment he himself was. Regulus (who followed the rules and values of the Black family) was the preferred son over Sirius, who would rebel and voice his opinions about how wrong his family was.

Regulus had tried to argue that Sirius should stay and sort things out instead of taking his leave that summer. Sirius refused and shook him off. The last time Sirius saw Regulus, he had taken a bag with his most important things and walked out the door without looking back.

Sirius's eyes lingered at the Slytherin table for a moment. He waited for Regulus to look at him again, but he never did.

__

"You alright, mate?" James asked, nudging Sirius's arm. Remus too looked at him, with a slight worry etched on his face.

Sirius nodded and smiled a little. "Sure, yeah. I'm fine, yeah."

James nodded and decided not to push the subject any further. His eyes wandered to Lily, who was sitting across the table a couple of seats away.

"I don't know what it is about her. She's just looking so... _good_ this year. Don't get me wrong, Evans is always good-looking, but lately, it's just something different about her..." James babbled on and nudged Sirius again, to make him look.

"I mean, look at her. Did she change her hair or something?" James continued while admiring Lily, who was chatting with another Gryffindor girl.

Her brilliant green eyes sparkled a little as she laughed at something. Her dark red hair had grown longer over the summer, and she had tucked the hair on the left side behind her ear.

"You're too whipped, Prongs," Sirius said teasingly and smirked.

James shook his head and smirked as well. "I will _definitely_ get her to go out with me this year," he said confidently, and Sirius rolled his eyes.

Remus and Peter, who sat across from their fellow marauders, were having their own little conversation.

"Do you think we'll get many new students this year?" Peter asked while looking towards the doors to the Great hall.

This year's first year-students would soon enter the hall to get sorted into their houses.

"I guess so," Remus replied and smiled.

"I mean, not all are _brave_ enough to be Gryffindors, so the other houses will probably get some as well." Peter continued, seemingly proud to have been sorted into the house of the chivalrous and brave.

Remus just hummed in response.

__

The sorting hat ceremony went by smoothly. Gryffindor had gotten a couple of new first-year students, who joined them at the Gryffindor table.

It had been a pretty even mix of first years, and all the houses had gotten around the same amount of students.

"I'm so ready for the feast. I'm starving!" James whined.

"Food does sound pretty good," Remus admitted.

"Yes, I'm so hungry!" Peter agreed. "But... Nearly Headless Nick really creeps me out sometimes," he whispered a little too loudly.

The Hogwarts house ghosts came flying across the room, and the Gryffindor's ghost, in particular, made a dramatic entrance.

He didn't stop until he was only inches away from Peter Pettigrew's face.

"My name is _Sir Nicholas_ , young man," he said, sounding offended by the nickname.

Peter gulped and nodded, slowly, a few times. "Y-yeah... t-that's what I meant. Sir Nicholas, sir!" he squeaked.

Sir Nicholas snickered and turned around, flowing around the table. He greeted the students around him.

"Sirius Black, is that you? Welcome back." the ghost said and then turned towards James. "James Potter? Hello! How _was_ your summer?"

James grinned at Sir Nicholas. "Just fine, thanks."

The house ghost nodded and continued greeting a couple of first-year students.

"Let's go on and have our yearly feast!" Dumbledore's voice boomed.

Tons of different food appeared on the table in front of them, and excited chatter was heard from the students.

James leaned in at the table towards his three best friends. He looked around to make sure that the students around them weren't listening before he spoke.

"Moony, how long until your next... 'furry little problem'?" James asked quietly.

Remus looked around nervously when James brought up his lycanthropy.

He relaxed a little when he saw that the students around them were busy with their own conversations.

"It's in about three weeks," Remus responded.

James nodded and turned to Peter. "We have three weeks. We'll have to make sure you're ready by then," he said.

Peter gulped and nodded. "Yes... You guys will help m-me?" he asked nervously. He wasn't all that good at doing things on his own.

"Of course. What kind of friends do you take us for?" Sirius interjected.

"Exactly. We, the _four_ of us, are the Marauders." James agreed.

__

After the feast, the students from Gryffindor had gone back to the Common room.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were back at the dormitory that the four of them shared.

Their beds were already made when they entered the room. They had unpacked their most important things and left some of it for tomorrow.

Sirius rested his head on the headboard of his bed, watching as Remus organized his school books. James sat on his bed and played with his golden snitch while Peter was lying down at the other end of his bed, watching him in awe.

"I still can't believe you were chosen as prefect, Moony!" Peter squealed excitedly, taking his eyes off of the golden snitch for a few seconds to admire the badge on Remus's robe.

"Are you really that surprised, Wormtail?" Sirius questioned, looking at Peter in disbelief. "Who else would they pick?" he added as if choosing anyone but Remus would be ridiculous.

"Well, it's quite the honor..." Remus responded modestly, slowly sitting down at his bed.

"Honor? Forget that! Imagine how many privileges you'll have! We'll be able to get away with anything!" James exclaimed excitedly, gesturing wildly.

"I don't think that that's-" Remus began, but he was quickly interrupted.

"You worry too much! Look at the perks. You should enjoy this year and live a little." James continued.

"Once we're all able to transform fully, you won't ever have to go through the full moon alone again." Sirius agreed, smiling at him.

"This year is gonna be the time of our life! I can feel it already." James said happily, his hazel eyes sparkling with excitement.

Sirius got up from his bed and walked up to James's bed. Peter got up and walked over to his own bed, giving Sirius his space on the bed.

"Imagine wrestling as a stag and a dog!" Sirius said and jumped on the bed.

James and Sirius ended up wrestling on the bed while Remus and Peter watched them.

After a pretty even wrestling match and lots of laughter from the marauders, James eventually won.

"I'll get you next time," Sirius said, in between laughing, before walking over to his own bed.

"Argh, they really could've given us one day before starting with classes." James groaned. He wasn't ready to go back to studying just yet. He was, however, incredibly happy to be back with his best friends.

"Guess we should get some sleep." Sirius shrugged and casually removed his shirt.

Remus gulped and looked away, turning away a little as he began to dress into his pajamas.

__

Peter was the first one to fall asleep that night. His snores could be heard just minutes after his head hit the pillow.

James stayed up talking to Sirius and Remus a little longer before he fell asleep pretty quickly. He was lying on his stomach with one leg sticking out from under the duvet. Light snores could be heard from his bed.

Sirius couldn't sleep. He had tried to fall asleep for almost an hour when he decided to get up for a bit. He walked with careful steps, not wanting his friends to wake up.

As he passed Remus's bed, he noticed the boy twisting and turning in bed. Remus was sweating, and whimpers left his mouth now and then.

_"He must be having a nightmare again..."_ Sirius thought and frowned.

He walked over to the window and opened it to get some fresh air. He seated himself by the window and inhaled the fresh air.

Looking up at the sky, Sirius noticed that it was very dark, yet the stars were shining brightly. _"Beautiful..."_ he thought to himself while he admired the stars.

__

Remus woke up in a panic.

He was sweating and panting heavily. He had had the nightmare again. It was the same nightmare that had haunted him since he was only a child.

It had all originated from the memory of the night he became a werewolf.

The dream was always the same:

_The sudden sound of a window being forced to open._

__

__

A sound of growling. A wolf-like beast attacking him ferociously as he was lying in his bed, defenseless.

_His body shaking in horror. His young self, trying to get out of the werewolf's harsh grip while screaming in agony._

Remus turned on his nightlight and tried to shake off the nightmare. He shivered a little from the cold, so he put on a sweater before getting up. He decided to make some tea to calm his nerves.

"Another nightmare?" a voice said once Remus returned to the dormitory with a warm cup of tea.

Remus flinched and turned to where the voice came from. He saw Sirius sitting nearby the window. "Yes, I suppose you could say that," he said, walking over to the window.

For a moment, they didn't say anything. They both just stayed there, by the window, watching the sky. Remus sipped on his tea, looking at the clear sky. The stars were always clear at Hogwarts. It wasn't like in the city, where you could barely see them from all the lights.

"Aren't you cold?" Remus asked, looking at Sirius, who was only wearing a t-shirt.

Sirius shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he said, smiling towards him.

Remus nodded slowly and passed his tea to Sirius, who took a sip.

"Thanks," Sirius said.

"Had trouble falling asleep?" Remus asked, and Sirius nodded in response.

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep much more tonight, so I might as well get up..." Remus said, smiling sadly.

"You should sleep, Moony," Sirius said without looking at him.

Sirius stood up and put the cup away on one of the nightstands. He closed the window, cursing himself mentally for accidentally making a sound. To his relief, none of the other marauders woke up from the noise.

"I'm not sure if I can... I don't want to... have the dream again." Remus mumbled, looking down at the floor.

"I'll stay with you," Sirius said. He looked serious.

"Stay with me?" Remus questioned nervously.

"Just until you fall asleep. Don't worry." Sirius said, walking before Remus towards the bed.

"Well... if you say so..." Remus said, uncertainty laced in his voice. "... but what about you?"

"Don't worry about it," Sirius repeated.

Remus nodded and slipped off his sweater before crawling back into his bed. He pulled up his duvet and watched as Sirius sat down at the end of his bed. Remus wasn't sure how he was supposed to fall asleep with someone sitting on his bed, but he decided to give it a try. He didn't want to seem ungrateful.

Something about Sirius's presence must have calmed him, because no longer than ten minutes later, Remus was sleeping safe and sound, without nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Edited 2020-11-09: Corrected mistakes; Improved grammar, structure, and flow. Some sentences have been altered to improve the quality of the text.


	4. Full Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Marauders experience their first adventure as animagi while they accompany Remus during the full moon.
> 
> Lily and Snape experience an unpleasant encounter with James's and Sirius's admirers. 

The first few weeks of the school year flew by quickly. Their core classes and electives had all started, and it all seemed remarkably intense compared to the previous school year.

The Marauders had used the Marauder's Map and James's invisibility cloak to sneak out during the night. With the map, they could see where their teachers, as well as, Filch and Mrs. Norris, were. Because of that, they could easily avoid running into anyone. And even if they did, the cloak would prevent them from being seen.

James had come up with the idea of using the Room of Requirement to help Peter practice. Sirius and James would give tips and encourage Peter while the latter tried to complete his transformation into an animagus.

Three days before the next full moon, Peter was able to transform himself fully into a rat.

Remus remembered the moment his three best friends had stood in front of him as animagi.

He had been on the verge of crying, his eyes tearing up as he felt so touched by their gesture. Before they had found out about his condition, during their second year at Hogwarts, Remus had been terrified that they would abandon him if they ever found out.

He was shocked to the core when they stayed by his side, without hesitating for even a second, even after figuring out that he was indeed a werewolf.

He remembered when they had told him their plan to become animagi to keep him company during his painful and lonely transformation. He had never been so grateful and touched in his whole life - until the moment they were finally all transformed in front of him.

This kind of loyalty and friendship was rare, and you would be lucky to find it even once in a lifetime. Remus would have gone through hell and back for either one of his fellow marauders. He would have done _anything_ for them. That's how grateful and happy he was to have them in his life.

__

Remus, Sirius, and Peter were currently sitting in the stands at the quidditch court, watching James as he practiced quidditch with the Gryffindor team. James flashed them a big grin and waved at them when he saw them.

There were a couple of students sitting scattered in the Gryffindor stand as well. Sirius noticed that the two girls, from their first day back at Hogwarts, were sitting a couple of rows up from them.

When he turned around, the girls waved shyly at him. Sirius gave them a nod in return before turning back in his seat to watch the quidditch practice. The girls giggled happily and whispered something to each other.

"So, you will get to the Shrieking Shack in before it gets dark?" Sirius asked Remus, who sat next to him, watching the quidditch practice with an empty stare.

Remus nodded. "Yes, and you will come after the other students have gone to sleep?" he asked, ensuring that the plan was still happening.

"Yep. The second they're out, we'll come to you." Sirius assured him.

"This is gonna be so wicked!" Peter exclaimed, equally nervous and excited.

__

Lily and Severus were sitting in the library, studying together. Their first exam in charms was coming up, and they wanted to make sure they were prepared for it.

Severus watched as Lily's eyes scanned through a page of her book before writing something down. She looked concentrated. Lily's dedication to her school work was something Severus liked about her.

She wasn't like some of the other girls at school, who fawned over James and his posse. No, Lily was different. She was compassionate, beautiful, and intelligent. She cared about more than looks, and she didn't care what others thought about Severus - she was his friend because _she_ wanted to.

Two girls entered the library. Snape didn't know their last names, but he recognized them as a Hufflepuff-girl named Olivia and a Ravenclaw-girl named Hannah.

According to Severus, these girls were the exact opposite of Lily. They were younger (in their third year or so), and they would always fawn over Sirius and James. To Severus, they were simply two idiots. _Shallow idiots_.

Would they have liked Sirius and James, had they not been as popular and 'good-looking'? No. Did they care that the said young men made Severus's, and other students, lives into a living hell? No.

Olivia and Hannah passed by Severus and Lily's table and sat down at a table behind theirs. Lily looked up from her book, sighing as the girls giggled and talked way too loudly for a library.

"Did you see James at practice? He's greater than ever!" Olivia squealed. "They will win the Inter-house Quidditch Cup for sure this year!"

"I _know_." Hannah agreed. "But did you see the way Sirius gave me a nod before?" she continued. 

"Wouldn't it be so cool if we went on a double date some time? You could date Sirius, and I could date Jam-" Olivia spoke cheerfully, but suddenly she was interrupted.

"Do you _mind_?" Lily snapped at them. She had turned around in her seat and looked at the girls.

She was sick and tired of not being able to study in peace. She was also annoyed that the two girls kept going on and on about _him_ and his friends.

One of the girls rolled her eyes, and the other looked at Lily and leaned in to whisper something to her friend. Lily couldn't care less about it. Snape, on the other hand, was not about to let their rude behavior towards Lily slide. He could practically feel his whole body fume from anger because of the way Lily was ridiculed.

"This is a library. It's meant for people who actually have a brain." he spat.

The girls looked offended by Severus's rude remark. The Hufflepuff-girl remained quiet, but Hannah stood up from her seat. "And you actually think that _you_ have a brain and I don't? I'm a _Ravenclaw_." she fired back. "And... Mind your own business, _Snivellus_ ," she added, her voice laced with false decency.

Olivia followed Hannah as she was about to leave the library. Hannah stopped by their table and gave Snape's ink a light push. The parchment, with Severus's notes, was soaked by the ink. The words were left unreadable, and an hour of intense studying had now gone to waste.

Severus rose from his chair and reached down to grab hold of his wand. He closed his fist around it tightly, his body reflecting the anger of hearing that familiar name, as well as the despair of getting his notes destroyed completely.

"Get out of here! What's wrong with you?" Lily scolded the girls, who scurried out of the library quickly.

Lily looked at Severus, concerned. She put down her hand on his and carefully unwrapped his fingers from the wand. _"Would he actually have hurt them?"_ she thought worriedly.

Snape calmed himself with deep breaths. He looked at Lily. _"Did I scare her?"_ he thought, trying to read her facial expression.

"I'm sorry, Lily, I-" Severus began.

"It's fine... just... promise that you won't hurt anyone," Lily said, looking into his eyes.

"I'm sorry... I won't. I promise..." he responded, smiling hesitantly while looking back into those beautiful, green orbs. "I just... I couldn't let them treat you like that."

__

In the evening, when the other students had gone to sleep, three boys were getting ready to leave the Gryffindor common room. James strolled over to his dresser to get his invisibility cloak. The cloak was hidden at the bottom of one of the drawers.

Sirius went to get the marauder's map. The map was disguised as a simple piece of blank parchment, and it was hidden in a box under Sirius's bed. Once he had the map in his hands tapped it with his wand.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." he recited, and the map started to reveal itself.

_"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs_

_Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers_

_are proud to present_

_THE MARAUDER'S MAP"_

"Filch and Mrs. Norris are currently on the third floor," Sirius informed the others.

James covered himself, as well as Sirius and Peter, with the cloak.

"Ready?" James whispered, and Sirius and Peter nodded in response.

The three of them snuck out of the Common room without any problems. They took careful steps, making sure not to make too much sound until they were outside the castle.

After entering the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow, they took off the invisibility cloak.

"Lumos," James whispered, and his wand provided them some light.

James took the lead, and the others followed him through the secret passage, and once they reached the end of the tunnel, James took off the invisibility cloak. He passed the Marauder's Map to Sirius and pushed the trap door open before he crawled up through it. Sirius put the map in his back pocket, and once he helped Peter up, he followed them.

It wasn't long until they would reunite with Remus. The three of them could already feel the anticipation and excitement. Tonight was _the_ night. They would finally be able to accompany their best friend as animagi.

__

Remus anxiously awaited his three friends. He was sitting with his back against a wall. Every time the full moon was approaching, Remus would be reminded of the 'monster' that he really was. The moonlight that had once been something beautiful in his eyes was now his worst fear. There was no escape from it. He had to endure it once a month for the rest of his life.

A knock on the door was heard, and Remus's heart started beating faster. Suddenly the door flew open, and the marauders were revealed. "Moony!"

"You came," Remus said and smiled weakly from where he was sitting. He looked pale and a little sickly.

Sirius hurried over to help him up. "I got you," he said as he let Remus lean on him.

James looked at his watch. "It shouldn't be long now."

"Should we head out?" Peter asked, looking at James.

"Yeah, why not?" James smiled. "We can't sit _here_ all night."

\--

The full moon finally revealed itself. James, Sirius, and Peter were already in their forms: a majestic stag, a black dog, and a small rat. They stood in front of Remus, waiting patiently for his transformation.

Once Remus's transformation was complete, a loud howl could be heard from outside the Shrieking Shack. Compared to his former transformation, Remus found himself calmer and less aggressive. In his wolf-like form, he looked at the three animagi in front of him.

Padfoot, as they called Sirius, jumped around playfully. Wormtail scurried up Prongs' leg and placed himself on the back of the stag. Moony watched them, carefully at first, but suddenly he started running. The animagi ran alongside the werewolf, excitement following them wherever they went.

The marauders were running and playing together in the moonlight. Their friendship felt stronger than ever. They had found a way to make the worst part of Remus's life into something blissful.

They felt so happy, so good, so... _alive_.

To the Marauders, this was freedom. It was pure bliss and excitement.

It was _euphoria_.

__

James, Sirius, and Peter found themselves in detention a few days later. After being up all night with Remus, they had been too tired to wake up the next day. They had all overslept and missed most of their classes.

The three of them were busy writing an essay on how they could prevent oversleeping in the future. Remus had been excused since Dumbledore was aware of his condition. This wasn't to say that Remus was all happy about it. He would have gladly joined his friends in detention after all they did for him. He felt bad about it, but his friends had assured him that it was okay.

"It was worth it. Every minute of it." James had said, smiling, when they returned to the Common room.

Remus was sitting in front of the fire in one of the armchairs. He was wrapped up in a blanket, reading a book.

When his friends returned, he smiled at them. "Thank you," he said and put the book away. The marauders sat down together, Peter in another armchair and Sirius and James on one of the couches.

Lily spotted Remus and his friends. She walked over to them and sat down next to Sirius.

"Remus, you're back. How are you doing?" she asked. She knew Remus had been home to visit his mother, who was sick.

"I'm better, thank you. My mother is... doing better," he said and forced a smile. _Oh, how he hated that he had to lie._

Lily nodded and smiled at him. "I'm glad," she said.

"I hope I didn't put too much of the prefect duties on you when I was gone," Remus said, smiling sheepishly.

"Not at all." Lily shook her head. "The only 'major' thing that happened was these boys getting detention for oversleeping," she said and made a gesture at the boys sitting next to her on the couch. James and Sirius snickered at her comment, while Peter fiddled with the paws of his sweater nervously.

"You should join us in detention some time, Evans. It could be... fun." James said with a smirk.

"I bet," Lily said sarcastically and rolled her eyes. "So... When does the quidditch season start?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"In about six weeks or so. Why? You thinking of going?" James said, looking interested to hear the response.

"Well, maybe... I haven't decided yet." Lily admitted. She stood up from the couch, about to leave. Before leaving, she turned around and looked at James. "If you avoid detention and study more, you might be able to convince me," she added and laughed a little.

James stared after Lily as she left the Common room. "She so wants me," he said, smirking, while the rest of the Marauders either laughed or rolled their eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Edited 2020-11-09: Corrected mistakes; Improved grammar, structure, and flow. Some sentences have been altered to improve the quality of the text.


	5. The Captain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James is surprised with good news from professor McGonagall, something that annoys Severus. 
> 
> James and Lily's friend Hallie hold tryouts for the quidditch team. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On Wattpad I introduced the recurring/minor characters. If you want to read about them you can read it here: 
> 
> https://www.wattpad.com/825700781-the-marauders-time-of-our-life-jily-jamesxlily

James stood nervously outside of Professor McGonagall's office. He tapped his fingers against the wall, nervously, as he waited. His three best friends had decided to keep him company. Remus and Peter sat on a bench nearby while Sirius stood beside James outside of the office.

"Relax," Sirius said and shook James by the shoulders a little.

"It would be easier to relax if I knew why in the bloody hell she called me here. I mean, for all I know, she could expel me!" James said.

"Okay, listen. There's no way you'll get expelled," Sirius said and chuckled. He put an arm around James and led him towards the office door.

"Yeah, maybe she'll ask me something to get you expelled." James joked.

"As if you'd tell her," Sirius said with a teasing smirk.

"Never." James winked, and they both started laughing.

James raised his hand to knock on the door but stopped for a moment. He turned to look at Sirius. "Thanks," he said and grinned at his best friend. Sirius always seemed to know what to say or do to make him feel better.

The truth was that James was concerned about his studies this year. His parents hadn't been pleased with how much he had goofed off last year, and despite everything, he did want to make his parents proud. Okay, he still wanted to have a fun year with his friends too, but who says he can't do both?

"Don't worry about it. Now go." Sirius responded and winked at him before he walked over to Remus and Peter.

James knocked at the door and waited. The door opened to reveal Professor McGonagall.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, you're here. Good. Follow me." She said and looked at James while gesturing for him to enter the office. She then noticed the remaining Marauders over at the bench.

"Don't you have anything better to do? Studying perhaps?" she suggested with a stern look before closing the door.

Professor McGonagall sat down at her desk, and James took a seat at the chair across the desk. He looked around in the office while McGonagall seemed to look for something in her drawer.

"Do you have any idea as to why I called you here, Mr. Potter?" the professor asked and looked at the student in front of her.

"Uhm... not really, no," James said. "You're not going to expel me, right?" he added and licked his lips nervously.

Professor McGonagall shook her head and put her hand down on the desk. When she pulled back her hand, James noticed a silver badge on the table.

"Is that...?" he began, and McGonagall nodded.

"...The quidditch captain's badge." She filled in. "If you are interested, that is," she added with a slight smile.

"Really?" James asked, looking at his professor with his mouth agape. "Of course! _Hell_ yes!" he quickly added and grinned, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Language, Mr. Potter." The professor said and looked at him over her glasses.

"Oh, uh... Sorry!" James said and grinned innocently while scratching his nape.

"Now this reward comes with strings attached, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said with a stern look. "I will expect you to attend classes and to keep your grades up."

James nodded slowly and kept listening.

"Also, you will be required to act responsibly as captain. It is your duty to hold tryouts and to organize your team." McGonagall continued.

"Got it," James said and grinned happily, still admiring his new Captain's badge.

"You will keep your position as Chaser on the team, but the other positions will be filled through tryouts." The professor informed him.

"Right," James said and nodded. The professor handed him a parchment with information about the tryouts, and James skimmed through it.

"As for the privileges of being captain..." McGonagall continued. "You will have access to the prefects' bathroom on the fifth floor. I suppose Mr. Lupin can fill you in on that."

"Thank you, Professor McGonagall," James said and smiled at her as he attached the badge to his robe. The professor smiled at him and rose from her chair.

"I trust that you will honor our agreement, Mr. Potter..." Professor McGonagall said as she opened up the door to let James out. "and, good luck." She added with a slight smile.

__

Once James closed the door to the office, he noticed that his fellow Marauders indeed were gone. He was slightly disappointed that he wouldn't be able to share the great news right away, but he knew he would meet up with them again soon enough.

While admiring his new badge, he strolled through the corridor until he reached the end of it. He was just about to turn left when the Marauders caught him by surprise.

"PRONGS!" they all shouted and looked at him with the biggest grins. James looked at them with an even bigger grin as he pointed to his captain's badge.

"Guys! Guess who just became... Captain!" James said happily and posed in front of his friends.

"That's amazing news, Prongs!" Remus said happily before they all rushed up to congratulate and cheer for their friend.

__

Severus closed the door to the Potions classroom. Since he was very gifted at the subject, Professor Slughorn had asked him to tutor a fellow student.

The student had proven difficult from the very beginning. Firstly, he had the nerve to show up late, and secondly, he had been nothing but snarky and ungrateful for the help that Severus had provided.

Luckily for Severus, the student had grown bored and left early, but the tutoring session had left Severus in a state of annoyance.

As he made his way up the stairs from the dungeon, Severus overheard some students eagerly talking about something. At first, he couldn't make out what they were saying, but as he reached the top of the stairs, the voices became clearer.

"Did you hear the news about Potter?" one of the students asked another. "Of course!" the other responded. A third student made their voice heard; "What? What are you talking about?"

Severus moved closer to the students to eavesdrop. _"What are they talking about?"_ he thought, both curious and annoyed by the topic.

"Haven't you heard? McGonagall made James quidditch captain!" one of the students squealed. "Really? That's so cool!" the clueless student cheered.

Severus frowned once he heard the news, and as he walked towards the Great Hall to have lunch, his thoughts were spinning.

Unlike the eager students, Snape didn't see the fascination. He simply didn't get it. No matter how well Severus was doing, no one cared. Not that it mattered to Severus that he was like air to most students, but the thing that bothered him was how they would blow the smallest things about James and Sirius out of proportion.

_"If any other student had been chosen captain, no one would bat an eye, but if it's Potter, people just can't stop raving about it."_ Severus thought.

"One could think that he perfected the cure for Dragon Pox..." he muttered under his breath before he walked into the Great Hall.

__

Lily and Hallie were sitting on Lily's bed in their dormitory. Lily had temporarily put her book down because Hallie wouldn't stop nagging her about quidditch.

"Oh, come on Lil'! Why don't you at least try out?" Hallie insisted.

"What makes you think that I would be any good at quidditch?" Lily asked, scrunching her nose.

"Please! James is captain this year, and I'm helping him with the tryouts." Hallie explained. "You'll be selected for sure." She added with a smile.

"I don't know... I thought James was pretty serious about quidditch?" Lily questioned.

"He is! But I'm pretty sure you'd get in just for being you." Hallie said, smirking at her friend. "What does that mean?" Lily asked, but she couldn't help but blush a little.

"You know he has a crush on you... duh!" Hallie teased. Lily responded by throwing a pillow at her friend, who couldn't stop laughing at her reaction.

"Seriously though, will you try out?" Hallie asked once her laughter died out.

"I'm not saying that it wouldn't be fun playing quidditch with you, but I simply have too many courses this year. I just don't have the time." Lily responded with a regretful smile.

"Fine, but you better come watch all my games this year," Hallie said with a pout on her face and her arms crossed. "Fine," Lily agreed, chuckling at her friend's pout.

__

Just as James had asked, Hallie helped him with the tryouts. They sat on a spot in the grass, discussing the players who had tried out. They had both scribbled down notes to help them remember.

"How about... him?" Hallie asked and pointed at one of the many names in her notes. There had been a lot of Gryffindor students trying out, but few who managed to impress James.

"It was expected that the team would consist mostly of the players from last year, but I don't know, I just don't feel like any of these people are right for the role of Beater," James complained.

When it came to quidditch, James was very passionate. He was perfectionistic, and at times, overly competitive, but it was these qualities that had won Gryffindor most of their games.

"What do you think about Henry? He was pretty good." Hallie suggested, but James shook his head. "I don't think he will be enough. I need someone strong... someone, whom I can trust to have my back..." James argued. "... someone like..." he continued, but he stopped mid-sentence when an idea popped into his mind. "... Sirius!"

"Sirius?" Hallie repeated and raised her eyebrows. "But I thought Sirius said no several times already?" she asked with a surprised look on her face.

"He did," James said. "The _other_ years."

"I'm not following... How can you be so sure that he will say yes this year?" Hallie questioned, but James just smirked. "Leave it to me." He said with confidence in his voice.

__

"Will you please finally try out this year?" James whined.

"Didn't you already do the tryouts?" Sirius asked, quirking a brow. "Well yeah, but none of them are as good as you," James kept whining.

Sirius ran a hand through his hair and groaned. "Is it really that important to you, Prongs?" he asked.

It looked as if Sirius was pondering. **"YES!"** James exclaimed, looking at Sirius with his best puppy eyes.

"I don't know..." Sirius mumbled, his eyes wandering to Remus, who sat in the other armchair. Remus looked a little confused but looked back at Sirius without saying anything.

"What do you think, Moony?" Sirius asked, smirking. "Would you like to see me play quidditch?"

Remus tensed up and adjusted himself in the armchair. _'What's with the smirk? Why ask me?'_ he thought.

These were just two of the questions that were spinning in Remus's head as his eyes met Sirius's eyes. Meanwhile, Sirius watched his reaction closely. Remus averted his eyes, took a breath and laughed a little to shake it off.

"Sure, I mean... Wouldn't it be fun to play now that Prongs is the captain?" he then suggested with a nervous smile.

James cheered at the backup and looked at Sirius with a triumphant smile.

"Yes! Maybe we can all play!" Peter cheered and looked with excitement at James.

"I... don't think so," Remus said and chuckled.

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, Wormtail, but maybe next year," James said and winked at his friend.

When James noticed the disappointed look on Peter's face, he was quick to continue his explanation. "It's not you! It's just that the position we need to fill is Beater, and I think it would suit Padfoot the best."

"Perhaps there will be another position that suits you better in the future." Remus agreed with a smile.

"I guess physical strength isn't my forte," Peter admitted with a sheepish smile.

"Exactly. I'm sure you will get your chance to shine in something else." James said with an ensuring smile.

Sirius's eyes once again wandered to Remus, who was turned towards Peter at the moment. "Fine, I'll play." Sirius agreed and sighed in defeat, even though a part of him looked forward to playing quidditch with his best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Edited 2020-11-09: Corrected mistakes; Improved grammar, structure, and flow. Some sentences have been altered to improve the quality of the text.


	6. Bad Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily gets targeted by anti-muggle-born students when she tries to stop a student from getting bullied. 
> 
> Severus disappoints Lily. 
> 
> Sirius and Regulus wind up in a harsh confrontation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warning!**
> 
> This chapter contains:
> 
> *Bullying  
> *Slight violence

Students were dropping in gradually in the Great Hall, and the Marauders were sitting in their usual spot at the Gryffindor table. James and Sirius made sure that they had a good breakfast since they had quidditch practice later.

Remus skimmed through an article in the _Daily Prophet_ while sipping on his morning tea. Peter glanced over curiously and looked at the article's title, which read: _"Death Eaters continue to spread terror"_.

"What does it say?" Peter asked Remus, who looked up from the newspaper. "Nothing out of the ordinary, I'm afraid..." he mumbled. "More people turning to You-Know-Who's side, Death Eaters torturing innocents..." he added with a frown.

"Such weak followers..." Sirius commented. "I'd rather die than become a Death Eater." James agreed, and Remus hummed in agreement.

"Yeah, I mean, who would ever be _that_ much of a coward?" Peter agreed, looking at the news article in disgust. "You'd be surprised..." Remus mumbled absent-mindedly as he folded the newspaper neatly and put it back on the table.

"Excuse me," James said with a smirk before standing up from the table. He had just noticed Lily, who had entered the Great Hall together with Hallie.

James, who had a cup in his hand, casually strolled over to the girls, and as he approached them, he began spinning the cup by its ear. "Fancy seeing you here," he said with a smirk, eyeing Lily in particular.

"Hey," Hallie said with a slight smile while Lily rolled her eyes at James's obvious attempt to impress her. "Potter, what do you want this time?" she asked with a sigh.

"Easy there, Evans." James teased before adding: "I just came over here to inform Hallie that today's quidditch practice is moved back half an hour."

"Great. Then you won't mind if I go take a seat while the two of you talk." Lily said and rolled her eyes again. "Wait, I-"James tried, but Lily had already walked off. "So, about practice..." he continued and turned to Hallie.

Over at the Gryffindor table, the remaining marauders were having a blast. They couldn't help to laugh at James's failed attempt to talk to his crush.

___

The day went by quickly, and by the time James and Sirius finished practice, they were both looking forward to meeting up with Remus and Peter.

While they were walking back, Sirius turned to check if anyone was around. Once he made sure no one was within earshot, he spoke up. "So, the next full moon is in a week or so..."

James glanced at Sirius when the subject was brought up. "I know," he responded. "We need to think of another excuse this time so it won't be suspicious."

"Moony was so happy after last time. I just can't get it out of my mind..." Sirius mumbled, smiling to himself. James chuckled at this. "I think we all were." he agreed.

"How did I ever let you convince me to play quidditch?" Sirius asked and chuckled.

"Hey! Don't pretend like you didn't enjoy it!" James objected and playfully pushed him.

"If anyone asks, I'll deny it." Sirius teased, and both of them laughed.

___

Later, in the afternoon, a crowd of students had gathered around the courtyard. It was a popular hangout spot for Hogwarts students. Lily and Severus were sitting outside together, talking to each other. Hannah and Olivia, the girls from the disagreement in the library, were also in the courtyard.

Severus, who had been keeping a small grudge against the two girls ever since the incident in the library, noted their presence. He recognized a male student who sat next to them. Although Severus didn't know his name, he knew that he was a Ravenclaw-student in the same year as Hannah and Olivia.

"So, how did you do on the test?" Hannah asked her friends.

"I worked hard for this one, but it was worth it. I got outstanding!" the male student told his friends with a proud smile on his face.

"You're kidding? That is so great, Finley!" Olivia cheered.

"So _great_ ," Someone imitated Olivia, making the students turn towards the sound.

Behind them stood an older Slytherin-student along with three of his friends.

"Isn't it great?" the Slytherin-student repeated, looking around with a smug look on his face.

"So great, Corey..." One of his friends responded with a mocking grin.

"Anyone else wants to brag?" Corey asked loudly while looking around at the students in the courtyard.

"I wasn't b-bragging..." Finley stammered nervously. The other boy was both taller and stronger than he was, and at least two or three years older.

"Is that so? Because I'm pretty sure we all heard you bragging about your perfect grades just now." Corey continued to mock.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Finley tried to object.

"Oh? But that _is_ what you said." Another Slytherin-student interjected, but Corey was quick to put a hand up to silence him.

"So, you think you are better than others because your grades are higher?" Corey asked rhetorically. "Let me tell you something... Out there, in the _real_ world, your grades won't be able to help nor protect you." He continued.

"Wha-what do you mean?" Finley asked nervously, looking for a way to escape.

"I mean, that when it all comes down to it, you're nothing but a filthy mud-blood," Corey responded with a cold, harsh glare.

"A w-what?" Finley asked. He wasn't familiar with the term.

"You're a muggle-born, aren't you?" Corey asked, and Finley nodded his head.

"Well, yeah, but..." Finley started to say, but he was interrupted by the elder.

"Think about it. Who would the Ministry of Magic rather employ? A student who brags about his grades, with _muggles_ for parents? Muggles, who know absolutely _nothing_ about this world..." Corey said coldly and looked down at Finley, who avoided looking at him.

A silent tear rolled down the younger's cheek at the mention of his parents. Corey continued his monolog nonetheless;

"...Or me, a pure-blood wizard, from a long line of witches and wizards? I don't know about you, but it sounds like a no-brainer to me."

Hannah, who was sitting next to Olivia, recognized one of Corey's friends as Regulus – Sirius's brother. While Corey was distracted, Hannah took the opportunity to whisper something into Olivia's ear. "Go get Sirius. Tell him what his brother and his friends are up to."

___

By the time Olivia ran off, Lily had noticed the situation at hand. She stood up quickly and was about to walk over there. But before she could do so, she was stopped by Severus, who grabbed her wrist. "Lily, I don't think it's a good idea..." he said.

Lily turned her head to Snape and shook her head. "What do you mean? We gotta help him!" she exclaimed, pulling her hand back.

"You don't have to get involved." Snape tried to argue, but Lily ignored him and marched over there.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Lily called out, tapping Corey's shoulder.

Corey turned to look at Lily with a bored expression on his face. Lily looked at Corey angrily with her hands on her hips.

"Oh, it's you," Corey said, making a grossed out face as he looked back at Lily.

"Leave him alone!" Lily barked at Corey, grabbing his arm as he was about to turn back to Finley.

"Don't touch me, you mud-blood!" Corey yelled before pushing Lily back towards his friends.

Lily stumbled backward and bumped into the three Slytherin-students. She tried to regain her balance, but two of the students held her back by her arms.

"Keep holding her," Corey ordered his friends before turning back to the frightened student.

The two of them did as told and kept holding Lily back as she tried to wiggle herself out of their grip while kicking backward. Regulus stood aside and watched the situation unfold, passively, without interfering.

Severus's face grew pale as he watched it all happen. He walked over there to try and reason with his fellow Slytherins. _"This is exactly what I was afraid of..."_ he thought to himself.

"Stop this before someone sees you and take points from Slytherin." Severus tried.

"I don't see anyone, do you?" Corey snapped at Severus and rolled his eyes at Snape.

Corey reached for his wand and pointed it under Finley's chin. "Now, I have a proposition for you..." he hissed.

___

The Marauders were standing in the hallway, chatting with one another, when Olivia came running. They all looked at her in confusion as she pulled Sirius by his arm.

"Sirius! Please help!" she pleaded in a panicked voice.

"What?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows.

"It's Regulus! They are in the courtyard! I don't know all of them, but they are from Slytherin, and they're about to hurt our friend!" Olivia exclaimed while flailing her arms in panic.

Without a word, Sirius turned and stormed through the hallway with his fists clenched. The marauders looked at each other before they ran after Sirius.

"Padfoot!" the marauders called after Sirius.

 _"Padfoot?"_ Olivia thought with a confused look on her face. _"Oh, it must be a cute nickname! I'll make sure to tell Hannah."_ Olivia smiled at the realization before she hurried after the four friends.

They caught up with Sirius as he was about to enter the courtyard. Remus grabbed his arm in an attempt to slow him down, but Sirius shrugged him off.

___

"Say it!" they heard Corey yell at the Ravenclaw-student. "Say that you're a filthy mud-blood, or I'll jinx you!"

James (who entered the scene right after Sirius) was shocked to see Lily kicking and screaming. Two male students were holding Lily back. Without stopping to think, James ran over to help her. Remus and Peter ran after James and helped him to push the students off.

While three of the Marauders freed Lily, Sirius went up to Corey and grabbed him by the collar.

"Is this what they teach you these days: to gang up on younger students and jinx them if they don't submit to your disgusting blood-purity propaganda?!" Sirius yelled, looking at the Slytherin gang's leader in disgust.

"Shut up, Black!" Corey yelled back and swung his fist towards Sirius, who dodged it with ease.

Corey's friends tried to step in to help him, but James held one of them back while Remus and Peter held the other.

Lily took the opportunity and rushed up to Finley to help him. "It's okay," she assured him while patting his back.

She led him over to Hannah and Olivia, who unwillingly thanked her. "Thanks, I guess..." Hannah muttered, and Olivia exchanged a thankful look with Lily, who smiled slightly.

Sirius locked Corey in a grip and pointed his wand at his cheek. "Not so fun now, huh?" he taunted, making James laugh and Peter cheer.

"Let... go...!" Corey hissed, clenching his teeth. Sirius's grasp around his nape hurt.

Sirius noticed Regulus trying to leave in the corner of his eye. He let go of Corey and quickly blocked Regulus from leaving.

"You-you're just lucky that you're Reg's brother! Or else...!" Corey yelled before running off with his friends, who were released shortly after.

"What were _you_ doing while all this was going on?" James snapped at Severus, glaring daggers at him.

"I tried to help..." Severus mumbled, looking towards Lily with sad eyes.

"What a nice way of helping me," Lily said and sighed before turning to James. "Thank you for helping to stop all of this." She said in a neutral voice before walking out of the courtyard.

"Anytime," James said dreamily and smiled after Lily was out of earshot.

"You... Come with me..." Sirius hissed at Regulus, gripping his arm harshly.

___

"Let go of me! ... Let go!" Regulus yelled while trying to squirm out of his brother's harsh grip.

Sirius dragged Regulus away from the crowd. Regulus tried to protest while kicking and screaming, but Sirius kept going until they were out of earshot. Once he let go of his little brother's arm, he pushed him against the castle wall harshly.

"I leave for the summer, and this is what you become?!" Sirius yelled.

"Get out of my face!" Regulus yelled back, pushing Sirius away.

"You want to become like them, huh?!" Sirius yelled, flailing his arm towards the spot where Regulus's friends had stood earlier.

"Don't act so innocent! You and Potter are just as bad!" Regulus protested.

"Just as bad, huh?" Sirius scoffed.

"Yeah, I've seen the way you bully Snape!" Regulus snapped.

"It's not even close to the same thing, Reg," Sirius said coldly, shaking his head.

"What's so different about it?" Regulus asked.

"The situation with Snivellus has its reasons..." Sirius said, before continuing: "Your so-called _'friends'_ are targeting students because they are muggle-born! Can't you see how _wrong_ that is?"

"They don't belong in a school of magic..." Regulus said silently, refusing to look at Sirius.

"Their magical abilities are the same as yours!" Sirius exclaimed. "Where's this coming from?" he kept interrogating.

"But it's _not_ the same!" Regulus argued. "And who do you think you are, trying to lecture me?" he snorted.

"You may be an idiot, but you are still my little brother, and-" Sirius said before he was interrupted.

"Brother, huh?" said Regulus in a contemptuous tone. "Tell me ... if we're such good _'brothers'_ , where have you been all summer?

"I had to get out of there..." Sirius defended himself.

"You have no idea what things were like after you left, so don't come here trying to call the shots. I have my friends, and they have been there for me!" Regulus snapped.

 **"THEIR PARENTS ARE RUMORED DEATH EATERS!"** Sirius roared, clenching his fists from anger.

"That doesn't mean that my friends are like that!"

"You saw what they did!"

"Just leave me alone! Get out of my life!" Regulus yelled in anger.

"You want to be an idiot? Fine!" Sirius yelled back, pushing his brother to the ground. "You really are pathetic." he hissed before walking away.

___

Sirius had practically been fuming from anger when he came back from his fight with Regulus. James had taken him on a walk around the lake, while Remus and Peter had returned to the Gryffindor common room.

James and Sirius didn't return to the marauders' dormitory until the evening. Peter had fallen asleep, but Remus had stayed up to read. He couldn't go to sleep without knowing that his friends were okay.

When the other half of the marauders entered the dormitory, Remus sighed in relief. Sirius seemed to be in a better mood since he and James practically snorted with laughter when they returned. Remus couldn't help but smile.

The three of them stayed up late, and James and Sirius told Remus all about a prank they had managed to pull on Filch.

___

Severus had trouble studying that evening. As he was staring blankly on a page of his book, his thoughts kept wandering off to Lily. He feared that the red-haired girl was mad at him.

Severus had wanted to do more, but what more could he have done?

Looking down at his thin arms reminded Severus of how physically weak he was. He would have loved to be able to defend Lily, but he didn't have the physical strength that James or Sirius had. Corey would have knocked him out cold before he even got the chance to throw a punch.

Although Severus didn't like to admit it, he also didn't want to cause too much trouble with his own house. Despite his loner tendencies, he liked being in Slytherin. In a world where James Potter was a Gryffindor, Severus Snape was proud to be a Slytherin.

Since he couldn't focus on his studies, Severus decided to give it up for the day. He put his book away and dressed into his pajamas. As he turned off the light and lay down to try and get some sleep, he kept thinking about the whole situation.

 _"Stupid Potter and stupid his posse, always trying to look like 'heroes'... Why can't people see them for what they really are?"_ he thought to himself.

He felt annoyed when a picture of a smug James Potter popped up in his head. He quickly shook the image out of his mind and replaced it with the one thing that made him truly happy – Lily.

 _"I'll have to talk to Lily tomorrow."_ He thought before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

___

The female students in Lily's shared dormitory were all tucked in for the night. The room was cool and dark, with only a little moonlight seeping through the windows. Lily laid in her bed, still pondering the events from earlier that day. With all the news about 'the dark lord' and Death Eaters, she had started to grow concerned.

Although she didn't like to take part in gossip, she sometimes couldn't help but overhearing thins from time to time. She knew as well as anyone else that rumors were circling at Hogwarts that some of the students' parents had turned to you-know-who. The events earlier in the afternoon had Lily wondering if there wasn't at least some truth to those rumors.

 _"This blood-purity witch-hunt is really getting out of hand."_ Lily thought to herself as she turned to the side.

"Lil', are you still awake?" a whisper was heard from Hallie's bed. Their beds were next to each other, so sometimes they could stay up and talk without waking the others.

"I'm awake," Lily whispered back and reached to turn on her bedside lamp.

"Are you okay?" Hallie asked with a concerned look etched on her face. She turned to lie on her stomach, facing Lily, while she supported her chin with her hand.

"I'm still okay. I promise," Lily responded, sitting up slightly in her bed. "I'm just... concerned," she added hesitantly.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't there. I would've helped you. You know that, right?" Hallie said sadly.

"I know," Lily assured her with a smile. "It's okay. Really."

"Well... It was nice of James and the others to help you, right?" Hallie asked and smiled back. Lily seemed to ponder the question before she nodded slowly. "Yeah." she agreed.

"I've played quidditch with James for two years now. He's a good guy, you know." Hallie said and yawned.

"I never claimed that he wasn't, but he can just be so... so immature!" Lily exclaimed in a whisper, which made Hallie giggle a little.

There was a pause for a few seconds, but then came another whisper from Hallie's bed.

"Lil', I know you hate it when I bring this up... but doesn't the way Snape acted in the situation make you a little... uncomfortable?" Hallie questioned with a skeptical look.

"There wasn't much he could do, and as long as he doesn't act according to these blood-purity values, there is really no reason to not be _friends_ with him," Lily responded.

"Well, if you say so..." Hallie said, still not sounding entirely convinced. "Just promise me that you will stop hanging out with him if he does, okay?" she added.

"I'm sure Severus won't fall into that sort of thing, but if he does, I won't hang out with him anymore," Lily said.

"Good," Hallie said, smiling at her friend. "Good night." She whispered and got back into bed.

Lily turned off the lamp and lay down properly. "Good night." She whispered back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Edited 2020-11-09: Corrected mistakes; Improved grammar, structure, and flow. Some sentences have been altered to improve the quality of the text.


	7. Lone Wolf No More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the first Hogsmeade weekend trip of the year. 
> 
> Severus tries to resolve the problems between him and Lily. 
> 
> The Marauders keep Remus company in the hospital wing and prepares for the next full moon.

The leaves had begun to turn into the warm colors of autumn, and it was getting chilly outside. Students had gathered outside of Hogwarts, ready to leave for the first weekly Hogsmeade trip of the year. Students dressed in jumpers and coats with scarves around their necks were buzzing from excitement as they handed in their signed permission slips to professor McGonagall one by one.

The marauders were nowhere to be seen, something that didn't go unnoticed. There were mixed reactions by the students who did notice: some disappointed ones, some curious ones, and in Severus's case nothing, but relief.

Hallie had noticed that her fellow quidditch members were missing, and she decided to point it out to Lily.

"James and Sirius are really not here?" she questioned with a doubtful look while nudging Lily with her elbow.

"I guess not," Lily responded with a shrug. _'That is quite strange...'_ she thought to herself. "Come to think about it... I don't think I've seen either of them since lunch." she reflected.

Lily decided not to ponder it any further. She had been looking forward to the trip, and she had even made a list of items that she wanted to purchase from the various shops. Besides, in Lily's experience, the Hogsmeade trips that James and his friends attended usually got pretty rowdy.

For once, Lily wouldn't mind the calm. That way, she could look around in peace without James trying to ask her to come to the Three Broomsticks with him, a thing that would have been flattering if it weren't for James's general attitude. Lily couldn't deny that James was quite handsome, and he did have his charms, but the way he would constantly try to show off or bully Severus seemed to weigh it all down.

"Lily Evans," McGonagall called, snapping Lily out of her thoughts. Lily quickly shook off the thought and walked up to the professor, her note of permission ready in hand.

__

The Hogwarts castle was unusually empty. Most of the students from the third year and up would be gone until later in the evening. The Marauders had been in the hospital wing since morning, with lunch being the only exception. At lunchtime, Madam Pomfrey had practically shooed James, Sirius, and Peter out of the door. Despite their protests, she had insisted that Remus needed to get some rest.

Remus was still lying in the hospital's furthest bed. Madam Pomfrey had made sure to draw the curtains, careful not to reveal the student. She was one of the very few who knew about Remus's condition and it was her responsibility to treat him during his time at Hogwarts.

It was safe to say that the Marauders' presence had stressed Madam Pomfrey out. It was all supposed to be very secret, and she wanted to do everything in her power to make sure the other students weren't catching on. She would have kicked the marauders out if it hadn't been for Remus, who insisted that he wanted them there.

It took some convincing, but at last, Madam Pomfrey had reluctantly agreed to let them stay. Since madam Pomfrey had been busy with other students, the marauders had volunteered to help. Though the school's matron had been hesitant at first, she couldn't deny that they had been quite helpful. Of course, madam Pomfrey had no idea of just how much they helped their friend during the full moon. As far as she knew, none of the students knew about Remus Lupin's condition.

Peter and James sat at one side of Remus's bed, while Sirius sat across from the two. Sirius carefully dabbed Remus's forehead with a cloth in an attempt to ease his fever. Meanwhile, James shared the highlights of this week's pranks and other events.

__

After Lily and Hallie had stopped by Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop for a cup of tea, they decided to visit a few of the shops – starting with Dervish and Banges.

"Be happy that James hasn't asked you to Madam Puddifoot's yet." Hallie joked.

The tea shop was known for its sugary-sweet décor and the many couples who visited it for their dates. The tea was the reason the two girls would visit the shop despite its lovesick crowd.

The bell tinkled when they opened the door and entered Dervish and Banges.

"I still think it's a bit strange that James and Sirius didn't come to Hogsmeade... Normally they would jump at the chance!" Hallie said.

"At least they won't bother Severus," Lily remarked while inspecting one of the items in the shop.

Hallie frowned at the mention of Snape. She wanted to be a supportive friend, but there was something about Severus Snape that bothered her.

"Did I mention that Brad came up and talked to me directly the other day?" Hallie changed the subject.

"The Ravenclaw boy you were crushing on?" Lily asked with a teasing smile.

"I wouldn't say _'crushing'_ but yes," Hallie said, a little embarrassed. "So, you know how Ravenclaw has quidditch practice after us? After practice, Brad came up and complimented one of my goals." She continued while browsing through the items of the shop.

"That's great! He should. You are good at quidditch." Lily complimented her friend.

"Thanks, Lil'! And you know what? He said: _'We should talk some more another time'_!" Hallie continued.

Just as she was about to continue talking, the bell tinkled at the door. The girls turned around to see Severus entering the shop. Snape and Lily locked eyes, and he walked up to the two Gryffindors. Severus barely seemed to note Hallie's presence and even less so the way her eyes shot daggers at him.

"Severus," Lily said in a not so enthusiastic way. She was still a bit upset about how he had acted (or rather not acted) during the incident with the Slytherin gang. "Lily... Can we talk?" Severus pleaded, worried that his crush was disappointed in him.

"Speaking of, I should check if Brad's in Hogsmeade as well." Hallie excused herself, making a face at Lily before she left the shop.

"Let's talk." Lily sighed, making a gesture with her hand as to let Severus know that he could go ahead and explain.

"I am sorry, Lily." Severus began hesitantly. "I didn't mean to..."

"You didn't mean to do what? You did nothing, which is the entire point." Lily interrupted with her arms crossed.

"There wasn't much I could do. There were more of them... What could the two of us have done?" Severus mumbled, looking down at his shoes.

"You didn't even try. You said nothing." Lily remarked, making a gesture with one of her hands while the other rested at her hip.

"Please don't be upset with me." Severus pleaded. His dark eyes reminded Lily of a sad puppy.

"I... I need you to tell me that you don't agree with them." Lily said, looking at Snape with hopeful eyes. "I need you to convince me that they aren't getting to you... that you don't share their views on muggle-born."

"I don't...! I don't agree with them. I'm sorry. I could never think of you that way. I would never call you a... that." Severus blurted out, his voice fading at the last part.

 _'Does it apply to me or all muggle-born, though?'_ Lily thought and sighed, still not entirely convinced.

Lily didn't have the energy to fight, and quite frankly, she had missed Severus during their week of no talking. She decided to have faith in him. If she were to stop spending time with Severus, it would have to be because he had proven that she was wrong in doing so.

__

Most of the students had been treated by sunset, and it was getting darker outside. Besides Remus, there were only two other students left. They were already sleeping deeply. James wasn't sure whether the students were actually tired or if it was madam Pomfrey's doing, seeing as she soon would have to lead Remus out of there undetected.

James leaned against the wall as he observed the changes in the sky from the window. He knew it was almost time for Remus to leave with Madam Pomfrey. Sirius could tell by the look on James's face that the time was nearing.

"Oh my, look at the time," Sirius said in an acting manner, glancing at James.

"Yes, look at that... Well then, this has all been lovely, but we really should get going." James played along.

Peter waved awkwardly at madam Pomfrey before he followed Sirius out of the room.

"We'll see you at the Shrieking Shack," James whispered and gave Remus a wink before he slipped behind the curtain. Remus responded with a weak smile.

Anxiety tore through Remus's body as he watched his friends leave. He trusted madam Pomfrey to help him, but there was something about the marauders' presence that calmed him. As painful as his transformations were, he was glad that he wouldn't have to go through it alone anymore. He was (despite his current state) very much excited for the Marauders' monthly "get-together".

__

The Marauders arrived waited at the Shrieking Shack, and once they saw madam Pomfrey leaving, they entered.

Remus was sitting on the floor, leaned against the wall. He looked feverish and exhausted.

How are you feeling, Moony?" Peter asked.

"Well, I... I am a little thirsty." Remus admitted.

"Say no more. One of us stays with Moony, while two of us use the invisibility cloak to sneak into Hogsmeade to score us some drinks and snacks." James said, grinning at his own idea.

"I guess I stay here, then?" Peter murmured, assuming that James, as usual, would pick Sirius to go with him.

"That sounds-" James started, but he was interrupted by Sirius.

"I'll stay," Sirius said and looked at Remus.

"You sure?" James asked, and Sirius nodded in response. James then turned to Peter. "Let's go then, Wormtail."

__

Once they arrived at Hogsmeade, James and Peter snuck into Honeyduke's. They picked out some sweets and drinks before heading towards the counter. James carefully placed some money at the counter when the shop's owner wasn't looking, making sure to leave plenty of tip. He could afford it, after all. The two friends laughed as they left the shop, picturing the owner's confused look when they'd find the money.

James decided that it would be a good idea to sneak into Hog's Head Inn and "borrow" a couple of firewhisky bottles.

"I doubt that we'll run into any Hogwarts students here." James joked.

The Hog's Head Inn was rather infamous, and most students had never even been inside the inn. They were afraid of getting into trouble with the sketchy crowd that the inn attracted.

James and Peter were surprised to find a couple of Slytherin students inside. The very same students that they had told off in the courtyard last week. Corey, Regulus, and a few other students James didn't recognize were sitting in the corner of the room.

Another man sat together with the Slytherin boys – a man with a pale, pointed face and pale blonde hair. The man, who must have been somewhere around his twenties, had a cold expression etched on his face. He sipped on his drink and listened to the students who spoke.

James and Peter couldn't hear what they were saying, but it seemed as though they didn't want anyone to overhear them. They looked over their shoulders from time to time.

The two marauders tried to move closer, hoping to catch what they were saying, but before they could do so, the blonde man rose from his seat and left.

"He seemed impressed, didn't he?" said one of the Slytherin students. He had straw-colored hair and pale, slightly freckled skin. James thought that he had an unpleasant grin.

"I guess so," Corey responded, sipping on his drink.

"Why aren't you drinking, Reg?" the pale boy asked and nudged Regulus.

"Bartemius, I'm not in the mood," Regulus said, shooting a warning glance.

"Suit yourself." The boy called Bartemius scoffed.

Corey rose from his seat and walked towards the bar. As he did so, an idea popped into James's mind. He glanced at Peter from underneath the cloak and grinned mischievously.

"You know what I think, Wormtail?" James whispered.

"What?" Peter whispered back.

"I think it's time for a little payback for what they did to Evans, courtesy of the Marauders," James whispered and reached for his wand.

Before they knew it, Corey was down on the floor. He tried to stand up, only to fall back down.

James had used a tripping jinx.

__

"So... why did you choose to stay here... with me?" Remus asked, leaning his head back against the wall.

Sirius didn't respond at first. He was busy soaking a cloth in a bowl, wringing it out before he dabbed Remus's forehead with it.

"Why wouldn't I?" Sirius asked, his eyes meeting Remus's eyes.

"Nothing... it's just that normally you would've gone with James..." Remus mumbled, averting his gaze.

Sirius took a seat next to Remus, leaning against the wall. He glanced at Remus and pulled him a bit closer, pushing Remus's head lightly towards his shoulder. "Rest here." He said.

Remus blushed slightly but did as asked. Sirius's shoulder was more comfortable to lean on than the hard wall. He closed his eyes for a moment.

"Do you... mind me staying with you? Would you rather want Peter to be here?" Sirius asked, trying to sound as casual as he could.

"No... it's a welcome change." Remus admitted, still resting his head on Sirius with his eyes closed.

"Noted," Sirius said and smirked, closing his eyes and sneaking an arm around Remus's shoulders. "I should stay with you more often then," he added and felt Remus nodding his head slightly in response.

__

Later in the evening, Lily and Severus were about to head back to Hogwarts. They ran into Hallie on the way.

"Hallie!" Lily called.

Hallie walked over to them, smiling at Lily before she glanced at Snape.

"Did you find anything, Lil'?" Hallie asked, smiling.

"Oh, I found a couple of things actually," Lily said excitedly. "I'll show you when we get back to the dormitory."

"Lily... I think I'll head back on my own." Severus interjected. He tended to feel a bit uncomfortable in the presence of Lily's friends.

"Are you sure?" Lily asked. "You can go with us if you want."

"No, I'll be fine," Severus mumbled and walked off quickly before Lily could ask any questions.

"Did you ever find Bradley?" Lily asked Hallie as they headed back towards the castle.

"I did..." Hallie said and pursed her lips. "... But as it turns out, he only talked to me because he is interested in _you_."

Lily frowned. "I'm sorry." She said and stroked Hallie's back. "I'm sure you'll find someone else."

Hallie smiled slightly and shrugged. "Maybe... Alice, she's two years above us, you know... she told me that Michael is interested in me." Hallie chattered as they kept walking and Lily smiled, happy to see her friend smiling again.

__

Noises were heard from the entrance, and Sirius quickly pulled his arm back from around Remus. Remus, who had started to drift off, tensed up and sat up straight.

James and Peter entered, and the invisibility cloak fell to the floor, beside the goods that the duo had brought. James was relieved to reveal himself. He wasn't exactly thrilled about being squeezed tightly with Peter under the cloak.

"We're back." He announced happily, picking up three bottles of pumpkin juice. He handed two of them to Remus and Sirius and kept the third one for himself. Peter picked one up from the floor and took a sip.

Sirius listened as James recited the scenario from the Hog's Head Inn. Peter snorted with laughter while James told the story theatrically.

"That was a good jinx, Prongs!" Peter complimented eagerly and took a seat on the floor.

Sirius laughed a little, but he couldn't help but feel a sting of jealousy. While he enjoyed getting to spend some time alone with Remus, he also felt bad about missing out on his escapades with James.

James grabbed a bag from the floor before he took a seat. Sirius's thoughts were cut short by a bag of sweets that was being tossed to him. He ruffled through the bag and picked something up.

"Chocolate?" he asked, handing a piece of chocolate to Remus.

"Thank you," Remus said, taking the piece from Sirius's hand.

__

Midnight came, and once more, a dog, a stag, and a rat awaited the transformation of a werewolf. A howl followed Remus's werewolf transformation, and the werewolf turned to the animagi. Sirius wagged his tail and jumped on him playfully. Remus turned them over, staring down at the black dog. The wolf wagged its tail and growled, but suddenly it howled and started running. Peter (in the form of a rat) held on tightly on top of James's stag as they started to run along.

Wild and free, the marauders' ran down hills, through the woods, and by the lake. They played and wrestled, nibbled and bit each other gently.

It seemed like a miracle to Remus, but somehow his friends made him hate himself less. They knew what he was, and they didn't see the monster that Remus himself had always seen.

The lone wolf who had gone through his transformations alone, the lone wolf that had self-inflicted scars from sheer frustration - he was a lone wolf no more. He had found his pack, and it was with his best friends.

__

Remus woke up in the hospital wing the next day. It was all a blur at first, but he could make out the shape of a person next to his bed. "Sirius?" he mumbled in a hoarse voice.

"Moony! You're awake." a voice said. It was Peter's. Remus could tell by his squeaky voice.

"Wormtail." Remus greeted Peter with a pressed smile.

"Are you alright?" Peter asked, helping Remus to sit up in the bed.

"I'm alright..." Remus mumbled. "Where is Sirius? I thought..." his voice drifted.

"He's with James," Peter said quickly. "We planned the most brilliant prank and-" he babbled on, but Remus had stopped listening. "Oh." was all he said.

 _"So much for staying with me more often..."_ Remus thought with a gloomy look on his face. He let out a sigh of disappointment before lying down again.

__

"James Potter and Sirius Black!" a harsh voice was heard in the hallway.

James and Sirius turned around, assuming that they were about to be scolded over the prank they had pulled earlier.

"Where were you this morning?" Professor McGonagall snapped as she marched up to the boys.

"We... Uhm..." James started, looking around as he tried to come up with an excuse as to why they hadn't been in class.

"You were not in my class, and by the look on your face, Mr. Potter, I assume that you had no permission to miss it," McGonagall said, watching the boys closely.

"I'm sorry!" James said quickly. "We were actually-" he tried, but the professor cut him off.

"Mr. Potter, this is _not_ what you promised me when I made you the captain of the quidditch team," she said, shaking her head with disappointment.

"But we were really..." James started.

"... Helping me." a voice said.

James, Sirius, and Professor McGonagall turned around to see Professor Dumbledore.

"Oh, professor, It must simply have slipped my mind," Dumbledore spoke.

"But Albus...!" McGonagall said with a shocked expression.

"What a morning we had! I should tell you all about it right away." Dumbledore assured her, gesturing for the professor to follow him.

As the two professors left, Dumbledore turned to James and Sirius. His eyes twinkled as he looked at them over his half-moon spectacles. James and Sirius stood there with their mouths wide open. James lifted his hand slowly and waved at Dumbledore before the latter turned around.

James and Sirius looked at each other with a mix of shock, relief, and thankfulness. In fact, they had not been with Dumbledore that morning. The truth was that they had overslept. Again.

 _"Does Albus Dumbledore know something?"_ they thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Edited 2020-11-09: Corrected mistakes; Improved grammar, structure, and flow. Some sentences have been altered to improve the quality of the text.


	8. Hallowe'en pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius makes a sweet gesture for Remus.
> 
> The Marauders discuss Dumbledore.
> 
> Remus is forced to deal with his feelings for Sirius.
> 
> Lily and Remus plan a Hallowe'en party with help from the Marauders.
> 
> Snape tries to uncover the truth about Remus. 
> 
> James and Sirius decide to play a prank on Snape.

The morning of October 31st was gloomy and cloudy; rain was hanging in the air, and the Hogwarts grounds were covered by thick fog. Remus also suspected that there would be thunder since he had woken up with a headache.

The dormitory was rather cold; the window had been left open overnight. James was sitting on his bed, still in pajamas, wrapping his duvet around himself. He yawned and reached for his glasses on the bedside table.

"Morning', Moony," he greeted when he saw that Remus was already up.

"Good morning," Remus responded with a slight smile.

James was even more tired than usual this morning. Remus and Sirius had both fallen asleep fairly early the night before; James and Peter, on the other hand, had both been bored. That's how they ended up playing cards until 2 in the morning; this was also the reason why Peter was still tucked up in his bed, snoring loudly.

Remus had woken up a while before James, only to notice that Sirius wasn't there. He hadn't reflected too much over it but was still a little curious as to where he had gone. Since he was freezing, he decided to put on a white knitted jumper to warm himself.

"Where's Padfoot?" James asked in between yawns and looked towards Remus, who had now walked over to the window.

"I don't know ... He wasn't here when I woke up," Remus responded, absent-mindedly as he observed the sunrise in the foggy sky.

The door made a creaking sound as it was carefully pushed open. Sirius poked his head inside, beaming as he noticed that James and Remus were now awake. "Morning'" he said in a lilting, teasing voice.

"Morning' Padfoot," James replied with a grin, his voice a bit raspy from tiredness. He stretched his arms and tilted his head to the side, yawning once more.

"Good morning," Remus said, smiling to himself when he noticed that Sirius had returned to the dormitory.

"Here," Sirius said. Remus turned to see that Sirius was offering him a hot cup of tea. A surprised look spread on his face.

"I know you like tea in the morning, and I was already up, so ..." Sirius's voice trailed. Remus nodded slowly and smiled.

As he reached for the cup, their hands touched lightly. Remus pulled his hand back as quickly as possible, almost spilling the tea, and Sirius looked the other way.

"Good morning," a squeak was heard from Peter's bed. He had just awoken.

Remus and James greeted Peter happily, whereas Sirius was more impatient, probably because he had been up for a while.

Peter sat up on the bed, pulling his duvet around himself as a protection from the cold.

"Peter, get up already. I'm hungry," Sirius said, gesturing for Peter to get out of bed.

"Right, sorry," Peter said and started dragging himself out of bed.

While Remus and Sirius waited for Peter and James to get dressed, Remus sat on his bed and sipped on his tea.

"Slept all right?" Sirius asked Remus as he approached him.

"I did, thank you," Remus responded, "And you?" he asked, smiling.

"Yes, um, thanks," Sirius replied, trying to match Remus's politeness.

Neither of the two could come up with something else to say, so they remained quiet.

"I should, um, put this away," Remus said, showing the cup. "Oh," Sirius responded and moved out of the way as Remus reached to put down the cup on the bedside table.

The awkward moment was saved by James, who couldn't find his tie.

"I'm sure I put it over here somewhere," James said as he looked around, searching for his lost clothing article.

Sirius spotted the tie which was hanging on the headboard of James's bed. He walked over there and grabbed it. "Guess this solves your mystery," he said as he handed it to James.

James made a surprised face. "Oh ... Thanks!" he said, grinning before he started to tie it loosely around his neck.

"Ready to go, Peter?" Remus asked, and Peter nodded in response.

"All right, let's go then," James said and opened the door.

\--

The Marauders entered the Great Hall together. They sat down at their usual spot at the Gryffindor table and prepared their breakfast.

"Guys ... I forgot to tell you that I had a nightmare," Peter said as he took a bite of his toast.

"What kind of nightmare?" Sirius asked, glancing at Peter.

"Are you sure ... Dumbledore d-doesn't know anything?" Peter stammered nervously, "Because in my d-d-dream ... we all got expelled," he explained and looked to James as though he had all the answers.

"Wormtail, relax," James said, stretching his arms into the air. "If he knew something, don't you think we would've heard by now?" he added with a yawn.

"I ... I suppose," Peter said and put down his fork for a moment as he pondered the question.

"Did professor Dumbledore say anything that indicated that he knew?" Remus asked, trying to analyze what happened realistically.

"Well, no, but he had this look ... " Sirius said, "... and his eyes twinkled!" James continued. They soon realized, however, how 'stupid' it all sounded out loud.

Sirius chuckled at the expression on James's face. "He probably just cut us some slack," he said and shrugged.

"Just because he covered for you, it doesn't necessarily mean that he knows exactly _what_ you were doing that night," Remus agreed, giving Peter a reassuring look. "And if he knew anything about it, surely he would have reprimanded me for my carelessness in the matter," he added. This seemed to calm Peter down a bit as he returned the smile.

During the rest of the breakfast, James talked about his latest plan to get Lily to date him. He didn't have to ask their opinion since Sirius was about to give him his already.

"You're too hung up, Prongs," Sirius said and rolled his eyes. "There are plenty of other girls who'd kill for a date with you."

"According to popular belief, they would do the same for you," James remarked with a shrug. "So they say," Sirius stated with a shrug. The subject didn't seem to interest him.

"Come on, isn't there someone you're at least a little bit interested in?" James questioned. He rummaged through his pocket, looking for something. He pulled out his golden snitch and started throwing and catching it in the air.

Remus lowered his book slightly to follow their conversation. He would be lying to himself if he'd said he wasn't curious to know if Sirius really was interested in someone. He knew it was selfish, but he found himself hoping that Sirius would answer that he wasn't. This was not something that Remus was proud of; in fact, he was ashamed to have any type of thought about Sirius that involved anything other than friendship.

He couldn't pinpoint the exact moment it had all started but sometime during their third year at Hogwarts, Remus had started to develop feelings for Sirius. The crush had never been a problem before; it had never interfered with their friendship.

One of the reasons for this was that they were rarely alone together; James and Peter were usually around. This made it easier for Remus to avoid having to deal with his feelings. When the four of them spent time together, it was never awkward; on the contrary, they had always had fun together.

Recently, however, Sirius had started to act differently towards Remus. He seemed more eager to spend time one-on-one, and when he did, he was more caring and gentle than usual. This confused Remus. He didn't doubt that Sirius meant well, but the whole thing had made it increasingly difficult for Remus to deal with his crush.

 _"I wonder if he really is interested in someone,"_ Remus thought as he absent-mindedly put his book down on the table, awaiting Sirius's response to James's question.

Sirius followed the quick movements of James's hand while he leaned back into the chair. "Guess I'm just not interested in any of the girls at this school," he responded, his eyes wandering to Remus.

Remus felt relieved. He looked up, and his eyes met Sirius's grey ones for a moment. Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted by Peter.

"If you weren't such a good Chaser, you could definitely become a seeker!" Peter cheered. He was, as always, mesmerized by James's quick reflexes. "You certainly have the responsiveness for it," Remus agreed, relieved to focus on something else. James smirked at the praise and caught the golden snitch one last time before he put it back in his pocket.

"Remus?" a voice said from behind. Remus turned around in his seat to find the owner of the voice – it was Lily.

"Lily, good morning," Remus said and smiled at her.

"I just wanted to check in with you about the party," Lily said and returned the smile.

The party that Lily was referring to was a Hallowe'en party. Lily had come up with the idea of hosting a party that would combine muggle traditions with the magical world. She had figured that Remus could help her plan it since the two of them were prefects.

At first, Remus had been hesitant to throw such a party. He did not, by any means, enjoy being the center of attention. And hosting a party would definitely put him in the center. However, Lily had insisted that she would do the hosting and that Remus could help her to plan and decorate.

Once Lily had explained how she thought that the party would be a good way to break the barriers between muggle-born students and pure- or half-blooded ones, Remus had agreed.

The party would take place in the Gryffindor common room after the Hallowe'en feast. Students third year and up were invited. Lily and Remus had figured that the younger students would be too tired after the feast.

"I've spoken to Hagrid, and he has kindly agreed to donate some of his pumpkins to us," Lily continued. "I figured we could use them to decorate the common room."

"That sounds great," Remus said, nodding his head in approval.

"If you need any help, just let me know," James suddenly interjected. "I wouldn't mind spending all afternoon with you ... 'decorating'," he added with a smirk.

Lily turned and looked over at James. "As lovely as that sounds," she said sarcastically, "I have a different task for you."

"Oh? ... What is it?" James asked.

"Well, I need someone to go down to Hagrid's and get the pumpkins," Lily responded.

"And will you be as kind as to accompany me on this mission?" James asked, once again smirking at her.

"I don't have time to go with you," Lily said and sighed, "Why don't you take Sirius and Peter with you?"

"Sure, sounds good," James scoffed and crossed his arms.

Lily rolled her eyes at James's childish behavior. "If it makes you feel any better, we've got all the time in the world to talk later – at the party."

"So, do you want me to bring something to drink?" James asked, seemingly in a better mood.

"What? No!" Lily exclaimed, "There will be no drinking at this party!"

"Why?" James questioned and raised an eyebrow. "For starters, there will be third-years," Lily said, looking at James as if the answer was obvious.

"So, I'll see you later then?" Remus interjected, and Lily nodded in response. As she was about to leave, Lily turned around one last time. "Oh, and dress up as something spooky if you like. It's a muggle tradition," she explained.

\--

Severus was sitting by himself over at the Slytherin table with his head hung low. He sighed quietly to himself and picked through his breakfast. He didn't really have an appetite.

Quite frankly, Severus felt a bit worried. Lily had barely been around throughout the week, and although the two of them had made up back at Hogsmeade, Snape was worried that Lily had changed her mind.

His eyes scanned the Gryffindor table from left to right, trying to get a sight of Lily. He stopped mid-table, a couple of seats to the right. There she was; she was standing up, talking to Remus Lupin, who was sitting down together with his friends. Snape gagged internally from the sight of James Potter's annoying smirk.

Pushing his plate aside, Severus reached for his bag and picked up a notebook, a bottle of ink, and a quill. He placed the objects on the table and reached down to pick up another item from the bag – a textbook from the Defence Against the Dark Arts course.

 _"So, Lupin's back,"_ Severus thought.

Ever since the last school year, Snape had grown more determined to uncover what his enemies were up to. He had noticed the pattern more and more; Remus disappearing for days once a month and the Marauders acting secretive, as though they were plotting something.

Severus opened his notebook and wrote down his most recent observation. There was another note scribbled on the top of the same page, which read _'394'_. As he put down his quill, he started flipping through the pages of his textbook. He stopped at page 394 and smirked as he read its title – _'Werewolves'_. Soon, he would have something strong enough to expose the Marauders for who they really are.

\--

The Marauders spent the afternoon helping Lily preparing for the party that would take place later in the evening. James, Sirius, and Peter did some of the heavier work while Lily and Remus prepared the Gryffindor common room.

Lily had made sure to include the youngest students as well. The first- and second-year students that wanted to had carved some of the pumpkins into Jack-o'-lanterns. The pumpkins had different faces, and there were candles inside them.

By evening the Gryffindor common room was decorated and ready; it was filled with pumpkins, spider webs, and candles.

\--

As the feast drew near, many students had already gathered outside of the Great Hall. The students chattered excitedly with one another while they were waiting.

Lily spotted Severus in the crowd of students. He seemed uncomfortable, trying to get some space by standing closer to the wall.

As she approached him, Lily reached out to tap his shoulder. Snape jerked around and saw Lily.

"Hello, Sev," Lily said, "Did I startle you?"

"No ... It's all right," Severus said with a smile of relief.

"I wonder what they have planned for this year," Lily said and returned the smile.

"I don't know," Severus said with a light shrug, "So ... Where have you been lately?"

"Oh, I've been quite busy planning a party, actually."

"A Party?"

"Yes, Remus and I have a little party planned after the feast ... for the Gryffindors," Lily explained. 

"You and Remus ... planned a party all by yourselves?" Severus questioned and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, well ... the others helped too ... with decorating and such," Lily admitted. She tried to avoid going into details as she explained, knowing that James was a sensitive topic to Severus.

"Of course," Severus muttered, scowling at her.

"Sev, I know I have been a bit busier than usual lately, but we _will_ spend time together again soon," Lily reassured him with a warm smile.

"I doubt it," Snape mumbled, but he couldn't help but let the corner of his mouth turn slightly upwards as Lily smiled at him.

"How about we put our minds together and start working on our History of magic essays tomorrow?" Lily suggested. "And then, afterward, we can have lunch together in the Great Hall."

At that moment, Severus saw the Marauders approach the crowd of students outside the Great Hall, and so, he tensed up again.

"Sev?" Lily called again. "Does that sound good?" she asked and stroked his arm a few times in an attempt to comfort him.

"Hm?" Snape averted his eyes from his enemies and turned them towards Lily.

"Yes ... Let's do that," he said slowly.

"Great," Lily said, smiling at him.

\--

As the Marauders arrived, James's eyes fell on Lily and Snape right away. He noticed Lily's hand on Severus's arm and felt a sting of jealousy; then, an idea popped into his mind.

"You know what? ..." James said while he watched them. "What?" Peter asked curiously and looked up at him. "... I think I'm in the mood for a little _mischief_ ," James said with a mischievous smile.

"Can't have Hallowe'en with all treats and no tricks," Sirius agreed, smirking.

"Can't we just go inside?" Remus asked anxiously in an attempt to stop the prank before it began. The others chose to ignore this, however.

James discretely took out his wand and aimed it at Severus's legs.

_"Tarantallegra!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I will try to post Hallowe'en pt. 2 in the next couple of days. :) 
> 
> The Snape reading up on werewolves-part was kind of a last-minute add, but I think it's good, so yeah.


	9. Hallowe'en pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Marauders, Snape, and Lily deal with the aftermath of the prank.
> 
> The students attend the Hallowe'en feast. 
> 
> Lily hosts a Hallowe'en party for the Gryffindors.
> 
> James gets to spend some time with Lily. 
> 
> Sirius and Peter try to help Remus through an unpleasant experience.

**Warning!  
  
**This chapter contains:  
  
*Bullying 

*Mental health issues

____

_James discretely took out his wand and aimed it at Severus's legs._

_"Tarantallegra!"_

__

Severus's legs made a quiver, and before he knew it, he had lost all control over his legs. His inner panic intensified as his feet started stepping automatically, almost as if he was dancing. The only thing he could think was: _"Please ... Not here, not now, **not in front of Lily**."_

Pearls of sweat had started to form on Snape's forehead as he kept struggling, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make his legs stop moving.

A shocked expression spread across Lily's face as she watched Severus's legs start spazzing and his feet moving even more unpredictably. She even had to jump back a step to avoid getting stepped on.

"Sev, what are you ... Are you all right?" she asked hesitantly, looking a little confused.

James, Sirius, and Peter were full-on roaring with laughter by now. Remus was leaning against the wall, keeping an eye out for teachers.

"Nice moves, Snivellus!" James shouted.

"You're a natural," Sirius agreed in between laughs.

It didn't take Lily long to figure out what had happened. Her eyes shot daggers at James and Sirius. "James, cut it out!" she snapped.

"Cut what out?" James asked innocently. "It looked as if you needed assistance. 'Could see Snivellus slobbering all over you from over here," he said dryly.

"Oh, shut up," Lily snapped before turning back to Severus. She pulled out her wand and gave it a swish before pointing it at his legs. _"Finite Incantatem!"_

Snape's feet came to a stuttering halt. He stumbled forward and fell to the ground.

"If I see you do something like this again, I will make sure you won't play a single quidditch match this season!" Lily threatened James and Sirius.

"You're such a buzzkill, Evans," Sirius said, and Lily responded by giving him a death glare.

James sighed and put his wand back. "Fine, I'll be good ... for you," he said.

"Good. I'll hold you to that," Lily said, before turning back to check on Severus.

__

Severus had had enough. He pulled his wand out and pointed it towards James. As he did so, Peter quickly stumbled back a few steps, almost hiding behind James. Sirius and Remus were both quick to rush to James's side, wands at the ready. It was almost like a deeply rooted instinct, telling them to protect each other.

Remus tried to move in front of James, slowly and with caution. He put his wandless hand protectively in front of him. "Severus, please ..." he said calmly. "Let's not do anything rash."

"Don't act as if you are any better," Severus snarled. "If you only knew the things I could-" He cut his own sentence. Lily grabbed Snape's arm. "Sev, stop ... What are you talking about?" she said with concern laced in her voice.

James and Sirius suddenly looked amused.

"You could do what, Snivellus?" James mocked.

"Spike our pumpkin juice with one of his _'dangerous'_ potions, probably," Sirius said, rolling his eyes at Snape.

Severus was tempted to say something but held his tongue. He needed more proof, and it would be easier for him to get without them knowing about it.

"I don't see the use of arguing with two idiots," Snape stated, giving the Marauders a look of despise. "It never ceases to astound me, just how thick-headed and arrogant you are, Potter ..." he continued. "... As for you, Black ... Keep rolling your eyes, and perhaps one of these days you will be able to locate your brain."

Before they had a chance to respond, Severus had turned and started to walk away.

"Sev ..." Lily said, trying to make him turn around and look at her by grabbing his arm.

"Don't touch me!" Severus snapped, breaking his arm free from her grip.

The truth was that he was too embarrassed to face Lily at that moment. And so he did the only thing he could do and pushed her away.

"Oh. Fine." Lily said dryly before she turned and walked away at once.

__

The doors to the Great Hall opened, and they were welcomed in by professor McGonagall. The rest of the Hogwarts staff was already seated at the high table, with Headmaster Dumbledore in the middle.

The room was filled with decorations. There were tons of pumpkins; some were gigantic, while others were of regular size. The light was dimmer than usual, and the atmosphere was cozy yet spooky.

Instead of the regular white candles, black ones were floating in the air. Sirius had to pull Peter back as the latter almost walked right into one of the lower-floating ones.

Meanwhile, Remus and James were checking out the other decorations. Remus shuddered when a bat flew by, flapping its wings an inch from his ear.

A skeleton was standing by the wall, nearby the Gryffindor table. The table was full of candy-filled pumpkins, and the plates and goblets were golden.

As the Marauders were about to pass by the skeleton, it came to life and turned its head towards them.

"You!" the skeleton shouted with a voice as cold as ice. "Yes, you ... What are you looking at?!" it said.

Remus, James, and Sirius flinched from surprise, while Peter jumped back from fright. The skeleton turned its head back and went back to standing by the wall.

"Oh, this skeleton must be enchanted to scare anyone who walks by," Remus said, chuckling, as he inspected it. "Fascinating..."

"This could easily be an inspiration for future pranks," Sirius said, glancing at James.

"That's genius!" James exclaimed, grinning back at him happily.

"Right ... G-genius," Peter agreed, laughing nervously as if he hadn't just been frightened by a talking skeleton.

While James and Sirius kept poking and inspecting the skeleton, Remus ruffled through his bag. James waved his hand in front of its skull, but nothing happened. "Maybe it only works once?" he shrugged.

"Should we take a picture?" Remus suggested. "I brought my camera," he said, pulling out the camera.

"Sure, sounds good," Sirius said, walking up to stand at one side of the skeleton.

James and Peter posed on the other side of the skeleton, James being the one closest to it.

"You too, Moony," James said. "Hallie!" he then called as he saw his quidditch teammate approach them.

"Happy Hallowe'en!" Hallie chirped, smiling, as she walked up to them. "You too," James said, smiling back. "Take a picture of us, will you?" he asked, grabbing the camera from Remus.

When James handed the camera to Hallie, Sirius pulled Remus closer to his side. The four of them started to pose by the skeleton, making funny faces. After snapping a couple of shots, Hallie handed back the camera and went to sit down next to Lily.

Dumbledore was about to give a small speech when the Marauders sat down together at the table.

__

After the speech, food appeared on the tables, and the students happily treated themselves to the various dishes. Sirius poured them some pumpkin juice while the rest of the Marauders filled their plates with food.

The entertainment consisted of songs performed by the Frog Choir and a play performed by the Hogwarts ghosts. The play featured Nearly Headless Nick as 'The Nearly Headless Horseman' who terrorized a village of citizens. The Marauders suspected that the play wasn't really supposed to be about a _nearly_ headless horseman. They had never heard of one before, at least.

"They never fail to surprise," Sirius said once the ghosts wrapped up the performance and took a bow to a standing ovation.

"Yes ... Quite the show, wasn't it?" Remus agreed, smiling subtly.

James threw a small piece of candy in Lily's direction, hoping to get her attention. As Lily turned to look in James's direction, the latter pretended he had nothing to do with it, whistling innocently. Lily glared at him for a moment before she tried to make eye-contact with Remus. Once she did, she tapped her wrist twice to remind Remus that they had to get back to the Gryffindor Tower soon. Remus nodded, and Lily smiled at him before she got up from the table to leave.

"We should head back soon," Remus informed the others.

"In a while," James said, but he soon changed his mind when he saw Snape heading out. "Actually ... Make that now," he said and quickly got up from the table.

__

The Marauders tried their best to keep up, but they lost James in the crowd as he hurried after Severus. James caught up with him just outside of the Great Hall. This time neither Lily nor the teachers were around.

James had been ticked off that Snape got the last word and saw this as an opportunity to change that. "Hey, Snivellus!" he called.

Severus reluctantly turned to look at his tormentor. "Yes, Potter...?" he said coldly.

"Oh, I was just wondering what your plans were for tonight," James said innocently.

"My ... plans?" Severus repeated while eyeing James suspiciously.

"Surely Evans must have invited you to the party," James said with a smirk, knowing very well that Snape wasn't invited. "Since the two of you are such great _friends_ and all."

"Shut up, Potter!" Severus snarled. He knew that the other was trying to provoke him.

"Oh, that's right - It's only for the Gryffindors ... Such a shame," James said and clicked his tongue. "Well, I should be going then ... Wouldn't want to keep Evans waiting," he added with yet another smirk.

Severus's knuckles turned white from how hard he clenched his fists, but he managed to keep himself from saying something. His eyes burned with pure hatred as James walk away and met up with his friends.

While Severus trusted Lily's judgment, he couldn't help but feel a little bit worried, not knowing what would happen at the party. An unpleasant feeling started to coil inside the pit of his stomach, and as he walked off, James's last words still haunted him: _"Well, I should be going then_ _... Wouldn't want to keep Evans waiting."_

__

Neither of the Marauders had been too eager to dress up, but some of them ended up doing just that. James had made a lazy effort to dress up as a vampire, trying to impress Lily. Peter had done an even worse job making a ghost costume - a costume made from a bedsheet with two holes for eyes. Remus's mummy costume consisted of bandages wrapped on various parts of his body. As for Sirius, he hadn't bothered to dress up; he didn't see the point of it.

The four of them left the dormitory and entered the common room. Most of the Gryffindors had turned up, and the party was in full swing. Some students had dressed up, but the majority had chosen not to.

"Want to get a drink?" Sirius asked casually, glancing at Remus.

"Why not?" Remus responded with a smile, following Sirius to the drink table that served pumpkin juice.

Peter saw James heading straight to Lily, so he quickly followed the others.

__

James approached Lily, who was dressed in a classic witch costume. He tapped her shoulder, and she turned to look at him in surprise.

"Look at you!" she said, smiling, as she inspected James's costume.

"Not bad for a non-muggle-born, right?" James said with a grin.

"Not at all," Lily admitted, happy that he had bothered to dress up.

James looked up and down, trying to figure out what Lily was dressed up as. Was she dressed up at all?

"What are you supposed to be?" James asked with a confused look on his face. "You look like you ... but with some kind of strange fashion or something."

"I'm a witch," Lily responded. However, this only seemed to make James more confused. "Uhm ... Yes, Evans, I know that ... but I thought you said to dress up as _'something spooky'_ ," he said, looking at her weirdly.

"Oh!" Lily exclaimed, giggling at James's cluelessness. "No, this is what _muggles_ think witches look like," she explained.

James blinked in confusion. "Really? Well, in that case, I'm not complaining," he said flirtatiously and grinned. Lily responded by hitting his arm, but at the same time, the compliment had sparked a smile.

__

The night went on, and the party had so far been successful. Lily had hosted a few games that were popular in the muggle world.

Some non-muggle-born students had been reluctant to try them. However, once James had encouraged them as well as participated himself, most of them had given it a go. As it turned out, once they tried it, they had realized how fun it was.

Hallie, who was dressed up as a black cat, was the last one up in a game of Hallowe'en charades. James was sitting in an armchair, and Lily was sitting on the armrest. The students who participated were divided into two teams. To James's delight, he and Lily had been sorted into the same team.

The rest of the Marauders were on the other team, and their team sat across from the other one. Remus and Peter had squeezed themselves into the same sofa, while Sirius was standing beside it, on Remus's side.

Both teams kept yelling out answers as Hallie made gestures. At last, Sirius won the last point for their team by guessing the word 'graveyard'.

Remus could hear James start up an argument regarding the game rules and chuckled at his competitiveness.

"I think I'll get a drink," he said, excusing himself as he got up from the sofa.

On the way to the drink table, he bumped into someone. He was just about to turn around to apologize when he heard something familiar - a growling sound.

__

When James, at last, had accepted the defeat, he had finally gotten a moment to speak to Lily. The two were still sharing an armchair, and Lily sat turned towards James.

"You did something good tonight, you know," Lily said, smiling at him.

"Yeah?" James said, smirking, as he fixed a string on Lily's costume. "And what's that?"

"I think you can be a good influence when you want to be," Lily said without pulling away.

"I suppose ..." James said thoughtfully. "You weren't half bad yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"You made all this happen, didn't you?"

"Not that I didn't have help ... Thank you, though," Lily's said, smiling.

James drank some of his pumpkin juice before offering it to Lily, who took a sip.

__

Remus froze. His hands started shaking as memories flashed through his mind - memories of the werewolf attack. His chest felt heavy, and it got harder to breathe. But he didn't dare to look.

Slowly, he turned around to face the source of the growling noise. His face paled at the sight of a student who had his face painted to resemble a werewolf.

The student laughed and jokingly hit Remus's arm. "Looks like I managed to scare you!" he said.

Sirius and Peter, who had seen the whole thing, approached them. The student looked at them, confused, as Sirius pushed him away from Remus.

"Calm down. I was only joking," the student said.

"Naturally," Remus said with a pressed smile, pretending to be all right.

"Sorry," the student said with a shrug before he disappeared to show off his 'costume' to another student.

Sirius and Peter followed Remus, who made haste towards the dormitory. The panic attack fully erupted when they entered the room. Remus tore off the bandages and threw them to the ground. Tears were burning in the corners of his eyes as he started hyperventilating and clutching his chest.

"Moony, don't cry ..." Peter said and patted Remus on the back in an attempt to comfort him. "You ... You need to calm down."

"See, this is what they truly think about it!" Remus cried out, "If they ... If they _knew_ , they would think of me as nothing but a monster!"

"That's not true!" Peter objected. "It was just a joke. It's nothing to be upset about," he continued, thinking he was helping.

Unfortunately, it only made Remus feel worse. He remained quiet, however, as he already had trouble speaking at the moment.

"Jesus, Peter, just shut up!" Sirius snapped at Peter and walked over to the two. He put a hand on Remus's lower back and led him towards the window. "Let's get you some air, all right?" he spoke, this time in a more calm and gentle tone. Remus nodded.

Sirius let go of his waist to open the window, and Remus sat down, trying to regain control of his breath.

"Do you want me to g-" was all Peter got to say before Sirius cut him off. "Oh, for Pete's sake, Peter, just leave!"

Peter flinched from the harsh tone of Sirius's voice. He couldn't quite grasp why Sirius was acting this way. He had only been trying to help Remus.

"Please ... don't fight," Remus said. His breath was a bit more stable now. Sirius looked at Remus before he turned around, mumbling a "sorry" in Peter's direction.

"Why don't you go and see what James is up to?" Remus suggested, "We'll be out in a minute," he added, forcing a smile to assure Peter. The latter slowly backed out of the room, closing the door to the dormitory.

__

Right after Peter had left the room, Remus's face fell. "It was like I was reliving it all again ... well, apart from the excruciating pain," he said, staring blankly in front of him.

Sirius, who was turned towards the window, turned around to look at Remus.

"You're safe. I know you don't feel that way right now, but I promise you that as long as I'm around, I won't let anyone hurt you," he said, bending down to give Remus's shoulder a light squeeze.

"I know, and I'm so very thankful for that, but ... when I was out there, and I heard that noise ... It just triggered something in me," Remus said, finally looking up to meet Sirius's eyes.

He stood up and started pacing back and forth around the room. His mind was still in overdrive. "It hit me; I'm the kind of monster that someone would dress up as for Hallowe'en," he said, and tears started rolling down his cheeks once more. Everything was starting to boil up again.

Sirius didn't say a word. He just walked up to Remus and wrapped his arms around him, hugging him tightly. At first, this made Remus tense up even more, but once he started to relax and lean into the warmth of Sirius's embrace, he started to feel better.

Although Sirius hated that Remus had to go through this, he couldn't deny how good it felt to be this close to him. He subconsciously leaned in to smell Remus's hair. "God, you smell good..." he mumbled under his breath, without thinking.

"What?" Remus said and looked up at Sirius. The latter cursed himself internally for slipping up like that.

"Did you say something?" Remus asked.

"It was nothing important," Sirius said quickly.

__

The Gryffindor common room had started to clear out, but there were some students left. Most of them were either sitting in the sofas and armchairs or standing by the drink table, conversing.

Hallie and a couple of other students had joined James and Lily. James had entertained them by telling ghost stories. He was about to tell another one when Peter rushed up to them.

"James!" Peter called out. He paused to catch his breath. James looked at Peter in confusion, and Peter leaned in to whisper something in his ear.

James got up right away, quickly turning to Lily, saying: "Wait for me? I'll be back in a minute."

__

Remus and Sirius's conversation was cut short as the door to the dormitory opened. They reflexively parted, just before James entered the room. Peter followed him inside, closing the door behind them.

"Remus, are you all right?" James asked. He sounded concerned.

"I'm feeling a bit better now," Remus responded, smiling sadly.

"Are you sure?" James asked again, still not entirely convinced.

"I ... think I should just go to bed," Remus said, sighing. "I will be all right ... Please, I don't want to keep you from the party."

"Don't think like that," Sirius said, squeezing his shoulder.

"Exactly," James agreed. "Why don't we stay in and play cards or something?"

"Oh, and then you can show Remus that new shuffling trick you came up with yesterday!" Peter chimed in.

Remus smiled vaguely and nodded. "All right then."

__

The four of them ended up playing cards, talking and laughing, for hours. Sirius and James became a bit tipsy since they had a couple of drinks. They passed out on different ends of James's bed. Peter and Remus, however, slept in their own beds.

Right before Remus went to sleep, he put up one of the photos they had taken earlier on the wall, above his bed. He looked at it for a moment and smiled to himself as the Marauders in the photo made funny faces, grinning happily.

He climbed into bed and turned off the light. As he drifted off to sleep, he kept wishing that he could see himself through their eyes. And though he knew that he may not ever be able to love himselffully, he felt in that moment as if he could, perhaps one day, grow to accept himself for everything that he was. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, this took a little longer to write than I expected. But here it is - the second part of the Hallowe'en chapter. As for future parts, I'm not going to set a date or anything. Sadly, my family's dog passed this week and I think I'll take a break for now. I'll probably write in the meantime, but I think it's better not to set a date (not that I usually do). 
> 
> So if I don't update anything before, I wish you all Merry Christmas in advance! <3

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you will enjoy this story! :)
> 
> It's been a while since I wrote anything, so I'm a little rusty. This is also the first story I've published on Wattpad, so please take that into consideration. ^^'
> 
> Also, I'm not too sure of how the whole becoming an animagus-thing works. I hope it was okay though. :) 
> 
> *There will be side characters that are made up in some of the chapters to support and move the story forward. If you dislike non-canon characters it could bug you. But hopefully it won't as they aren't the main focus. :)
> 
> //Neneh


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